


Seph Jackson in Middle Earth

by Ocean_breeze



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: BAMF Percy Jackson, F/M, Female Percy Jackson, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Seph needs a break, Thorin is suspicious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 42,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29140899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ocean_breeze/pseuds/Ocean_breeze
Summary: The final battle against Gaia ends with Persephone Jackson (Seph) being sent to Middle Earth. Once there, she joins the company of Thorin Oakenshield on their quest to retake Erebor.Seph faces many challenges, and has no issue shutting down anyone who claims she cannot fight or take part in such dangerous activities. With violent demonstrations if necessary.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Thorin Oakenshield, Female Percy Jackson/Legolas Greenleaf, Kíli (Tolkien)/Tauriel (Hobbit Movies), Percy Jackson & Bilbo Baggins, Percy Jackson & Fíli (Tolkien), Percy Jackson & Thorin Oakenshield, Percy Jackson/Legolas Greenleaf
Comments: 56
Kudos: 107





	1. The Battle of Camp Half-Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This fic should eventually be a full length one, across the entire hobbit trilogy. Yes, it includes Female Percy Jackson, and don’t worry, I hope to make her every bit as badass as she deserved to be. 
> 
> Sorry if the fight scenes aren’t particularly well written, this is only my second fic. Comments, reviews and criticism are all gladly accepted, and I hope people enjoy this fic. 
> 
> Updates should be weekly at least, depending on how life goes.
> 
> Disclaimer! I don’t own PJO or The Hobbit.

The battle of Camp Half-Blood raged on. Hoards of monsters swarmed seemingly unaffected by the moving ground, curtsey of Gaia. We fought valiantly, stabbing and slashing with a vengeance, however many of us still fell. 

I fought back to back with Annabeth, whirling and killing monsters at every turn. Together we waded through the ranks, sowing destruction. I was certain that we were starting to push them back, I even saw fear reflected a few monster’s eyes. 

Through all the clashing and yelling, I heard screams as Piper and Leo were caught in Gaia’s grip. She began crushing the life from them. Jason moved to try and save them but was caught off guard from behind by an earthborn. Piper and Leo died crushed and shattered. Gaia dropped them and they crashed the the earth; Jason in his despair blasted Gaia with lighting, however he was stabbed in the chest by an empousa.

“NOOOO!!!” I screamed as three of my best friends were killed in front of me. The ground began to shake as I cried out for the fallen heroes. In my fury, I summoned a hurricane which swept through the ranks of monsters, ripping many of them apart in clouds of yellow dust. 

I threw myself into the fight, not caring about my personal safety. Riptide showing no mercy as Annabeth and I charged towards Dirt Face herself. Any water I could find nearby I called to my command, using it to push back monsters and shield other demigods. The adrenaline rushing through me kept me going, along with the anger; so much so that I couldn’t feel any of the cuts and injuries dealt to me during the fight. 

Gaia was still firmly grasped in Festus’ claws. Celestial bronze not giving in to an angry primordial. I guessed that was partly due to Festus mourning Leo. Using my hurricane as a boost, I leapt up with all my strength, flipping midair to land on Festus’ back.

“You’ll die for that,” I told her, deadly fury thundering through my words. 

“Foolish demigod child, you think you can overpower me. I am a primordial goddess, you are but an ant beneath my boot,” Gaia hissed.

I launched myself at her, keeping one leg locked around Festus’ paws. I starting slashing and slicing at her with Riptide, while attempting to dodge her own attacks. (In fairness, midair fighting is difficult, especially when you can’t fly!) Although I succeeded in doing some damage, landing some very satisfying blows on Dirt Face, I failed to block one of her attacks. I screamed as she stabbed me deeply, just above my left hip. Due to the pain I almost lost my grip on Festus. Blood was already seeping from the wound as Riptide fell from my hand.

“SEPH!” Someone screamed out my name; I couldn’t tell who, too busy trying to stay conscious from the blood loss.

“ARGHHHH!” I yelled out, using all my power in that moment. My life was already a gonner, so I concentrated on destroying Gaia with my last breath if necessary. I channeled the water and hurricane towards Gaia, thrusting my arms out and forcing the water at her in sharp pressurised blasts stabbing into her viciously.

Whilst doing this I called the hurricane to us, “Festus, let us go!” I yelled, throwing us both far into the air. Thankfully, Gaia was taking significant damage from my attacks, and was slower the further away from the ground she was. I used her sluggishness to force the hurricane to compact as much as possible, forming an explosive bundle of air and water. As Gaia and I began to fall back towards the ground, I unleashed it in an instance. The shockwave rippled through the air, tearing Gaia apart and throwing me violently towards the ground. 

Breathing heavily as I fell, my vision grew hazy. Just before passing out I heard Gaia’s final words echoing to me. 

“Curse you Persephone Jackson! You shall never again walk on this earth!” 

I had no time to ponder the meaning behind her ominous words, as the world faded into nothingness.

~~~~~~~

She crashed to the ground having appeared mid-air. The girl was small, and human-looking in appearance, dressed strangely. She had long black hair and tanned skin, but was covered in bloody gashes and scars. Most alarming was the gaping wound in her abdomen. She was clearly unconscious, breathing shallowly.

Thankfully, several were present when the girl appeared. Two elves rushed towards her, turning her over and trying to stop the bleeding. 

_”Someone get Lord Elrond, quickly!”_ One of them shouted, as the girl’s pulse grew weaker and weaker.

_”I don’t understand, who is she? How did she get here?”_

Not long after, Lord Elrond arrived at the scene. Thankfully he happened to be nearby when she had arrived. He managed to take what he saw within his stride, concentrating more on keeping her alive first and foremost.

 _”I’m sure answers will be revealed to us, but for now saving her life is more important,”_ he said briskly getting to work halting her blood loss and closing the worst of her wounds first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter, how’d I do? And comments are great fully received! 
> 
> See you all in the next chapter!


	2. Rivendell part 1

I awoke slowly. I was lying on something soft and very comfortable. Cool sheets covered me. I could hear birds chirping nearby; I got the impression of a peaceful ambiance. Although, I doubted that was real. Camp had just had one of the most devastating battles yet, many things were destroyed, many people injured. Many more mourning all those who died. There was no way in Tartarus that camp could possibly be that peaceful so quickly.

Bone-deep exhaustion kept me from shooting up into a sitting position. Instead I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, wincing slightly from the light. I noticed the elaborate architecture in the room, evidently Annabeth had been rubbing off on me. The ceiling had delicate carvings of branches and leaves arching across from the edges of the room. And the walls themselves had elegant stone pillars, and large arching windows. The view was honestly breathtaking. 

However it was not a view I was familiar with. Why wasn’t I at camp? Where was this place? What had happened after I passed out? How was I not dead from impact with the ground (not to mention the injuries Gaia dealt me)? My brain went into boarder-line panic mode as I tried to answer to no avail.

I managed to sit up slowly, stretching my arms as I did so. I was surprised to find all my wounds healed, but then again last I remembered, water was involved so that could be why. I also noticed that I was no longer wearing my tattered camp shirt and jeans; I guessed they were pretty ruined from the blood. Instead i was wearing a soft white cotton shirt, with slightly billowing sleeves. That was paired with dark pants which were surprisingly comfy and thankfully had pockets. I could feel Riptide pressing against my right leg almost reassuringly.

“So you’re finally awake,” came a rich voice, startling me slightly. 

I turned to where the voice came from, seeing a tall man standing in the doorway. He had long brown hair to rival many girls I knew, and was wearing weird flowing robes which surprisingly suited him. He had a serious yet kind face, reminding me of Chiron. On his forehead was a silver circlet of sorts, so obviously he was someone important.

“Ummm sorry but who are you? Also where am I and how did I get here? Where's everyone else?” I had tried to limit myself to one question, but I couldn’t help it. Something was off, I was sure of it.

“I am Lord Elrond, and you are currently in Rivendell, as it is known to mankind.” He spoke slowly and kindly, walking towards me and sitting down on a chair next to the bed. It was at this point I noticed the ears. 

“Holy Hades, are you an elf?!” I exclaimed loudly, not giving him a chance to answer my other questions. “What it going on? How...” I started muttering to myself in confusion and disbelief.

Lord Elrond seemed amused by my reaction. “Yes, I am an elf. As are the other residents of Rivendell.” 

“What the hell is going on?” I muttered. “I don’t understand how I got here.”

“You appeared out of nowhere, unconscious and heavily wounded. Without our healing, you probably would have died.” It was bluntly said, but honestly I was thankful for it. In my mind it was better for everyone to not beat around the bush with these matters. 

He then asked “if you don’t mind, could you tell me your name and where you are from?”

“Oh er right, my name is Persephone Jackson, although I prefer to be called Seph or Perci. I’m from Manhattan, New York. However considering I’ve never heard of Rivendell, I doubt you’ll have heard of where I’m from,” I said quietly.

Lord Elrond sighed deeply. “I’m afraid not.”

“So I’m in a different world. Great.” I said sarcastically.

“You seem to be taking this rather well,” Elrond mused.

I laughed slightly at that. “Don’t misunderstand sir, I am very angry about this, however I can say with certainty I’ve had much worse happen to me. The Fates just hate me, it seems.”

He looked slightly confused and concerned at that remark. 

“Damn you Gaia.” I muttered harshly. Little did I know that elves had excellent hearing.

“Gaia? Who is that? What significance to they have to your situation?” Lord Elrond inquired, tilting his head slightly.

I let out a subtle groan, feeling the headache forming already. “I probably shouldn’t say all this, but considering I’m in a different world altogether I don’t see what else could happen.

“In my world, many countries have various religions and beliefs, I’m sure yours is no exception. However these gods do actually exist, they’re not just legends or anything. There are many people in my world who are blissfully ignorant of that fact, and honestly at times I envy them. 

“I told you my name is Persephone Jackson, but I didn’t mention the fact that I’m the daughter of Poseidon, Greek god of the seas, earthquakes and horses. I’m not the only demigod, there are many of us, and not necessarily just in our pantheon. 

“We were at war, for the second time in the last two years, both times with various enemies of the gods. Gaia is one such being. I’m not going to go into specifics of the Greek pantheon or we’ll be here all day. I was involved in the final battle against Gaia. It was brutal, probably one of the worst battles we have ever had. She killed many of my kin, and three of my best friends before the end. I unleashed as much power as I could in order to kill her, hence why I was so injured and exhausted. Just before I passed out, she cursed me. She cursed me to never again walk upon the earth, and considering she is the primordial goddess of the earth and nature, I’m not surprised this happened as a result.”

Lord Elrond sat there in stunned silence. It took a moment for him to regain his composure, but I wasn’t surprised at shock. I _had_ just told him I was part of two wars, and was the child of an actual god. His reaction was incredibly mild, all things considering.

“Okay I know that’s a lot to take in, even though I missed out most of it. So anyways, yeah, she’s the reason I turned up here bleeding out. Thanks for the whole healing thingy by the way, although I’m sure I would’ve been fine if you dumped my in a body of water. Considering I’m clean, I’m assuming someone did that anyway though. But yeah, thank you.” 

“I- you’re welcome, Lady Persephone...” he said distractedly. 

“Lady?! What the Hades? I’m not a Lady,” I managed to choke out between breaths.

“If I understand what you’ve told me, you claim to be the daughter of a god. That makes you a lady at the very least. As for the help, you’re most welcome.

“I do have a few questions about your story though. I do believe you, I’m very good at discerning lies. I’m very sorry for the hardships you have endured, and I’m sorry for your losses.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly. “Ask away, Lord Elrond.”

“You mentioned powers, and something to do with healing via water. If possible could you elaborate? I’m simply curious about the matter,” he said.

“Oh right! Sure no problem. So basically, many of us demigods inherited powders from our godly parent. Some can control fire, or wind and lightning. I know one who can summon the dead, some with incredible intelligence, excellent battle skill; the list goes on. I myself can control water, preferably the ocean, but any water will do. It does my bidding, I can breathe underwater too, communicate to sea creatures and horses and when extremely desperate and/or angry, I can cause hurricanes and earthquakes. And yes, as you mentioned, water heals me.”

“Incredible! Yet I despair as to why one as young as yourself would be involved in such battles you have mentioned. You can’t have passed into adulthood yet,” He said mournfully.

I sighed once more, leaning back against the pillows. “Us demigods don’t usually live for long. We lead dangerous lives, constantly at risk of being hunted by various monsters. Unfortunately, the older and more powerful you are, the stronger your scent is, and the easier monsters find you. Many demigods don’t even make it to our camps, which are safe haven to us. We don’t choose such a life, but unfortunately many of us die before reaching adulthood. 

“And when it comes to the battles, the gods made us do their dirty work. Too afraid or ignorant to do anything before it’s almost too late. You would’ve thought by now that they’d come to their senses.” I huffed grumpily.

“Shouldn’t you show more respect to your gods?” He asked, surprised at my supposed disrespect.

“I show respect to those who have earned it. Many of the gods have done so, unfortunately some have yet to take their heads out their asses and realise what’s going on around them. Both times we have faces wars, many have remained too ‘high and mighty’ to notice the enemy rising; instead simply dismissing all cause for concern. If said gods had listened to us, their children, many things could have gone differently. So many lives could have been saved...

“Anyway, this is not the time to dwell on that. Hopefully, Gaia was actually defeated before I ended up here, ending the second giant war. If you don’t mind, could you tell me about this world. It seems until I can find a way home (if that’s even possible) I’m stuck here. I’d at least like to have a vague idea of what to expect before I’m required to leave here.”

Lord Elrond almost looked offended at that last bit. “Rest assured my Lady, you are welcome to stay here as long as you wish. In case you hadn’t realised, which wouldn’t be surprising considering I didn’t mention it, I am in charge of Rivendell. As my guest, you have no need to worry about being ‘required’ to leave.”

He then began explaining to me the world I had arrived in. Middle Earth, he called it. That immediately sent my brain off on a tangent; was there an upper and lower earth too? Was my earth one of those but we didn’t know of the others? 

I managed to reign in my attention, listening to Lord Elrond describing the various races of this world. It seemed something straight out of a fantasy tale, with elves and dwarves and the like. 

Although evidently lacking in the technology and advances of my world, something about middle earth made me feel at home. I wouldn’t really miss that much of technology, maybe things like cars and showers, but not much else (as they attract monsters to us). I was no stranger to fighting and fending for myself, so I thought I could do quite well here. 

A gentle voice cut through Lord Elrond’s descriptive words. _”How is she, my Lord Elrond?”_

I looked over to see another elf man, and holy Hera, we’re all elves gorgeous?! I supposed it was just my luck to have crashlanded in a realm of stunning people whilst looking an absolute mess. I had no clue what he had just said, but it didn’t sound ill-natured. 

_“She has recovered well. Thankfully she arrived with no ill-will to us either, so I have no issue with her remaining here,”_ Lord Elrond replied.

“Umm, not to sound rude, but what did you two say? I’m guessing it was in your elf language, but how did you know to speak English to me when I woke up?” I asked.

Elrond chuckled at that remark. “He was asking if you had recovered, and I simply replied in turn. I only spoke to you in the language of Westron; the most common tongue of middle earth, as I knew mankind speak that. I’m assuming then seeing as you understand me, that ‘English’ and ‘Westron’ are the same.”

“Ohh um, yeah I guess so.” I said sheepishly.

“Lady Persephone-“ he started before I interjected.

“-Just Seph, please. I’m no Lady. Not where I’m from, so not here either,” I said firmly.

Apparently I looked stubborn enough, as Elrond relented for the time being. “Fine, Seph, this is my son Elladan. He was one of the elves who first found you.”

“Nice to meet you, thank you for helping me,” I smiled slightly at Elladan. 

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“I wonder if you two could possibly keep how I arrived here on the down low. Appearing mid-air whilst passed out isn’t really something I need everyone knowing. Not to mention any of the other stuff I’ve told you Lord Elrond. You can say I was found nearby wounded badly or something... that’s half the truth anyways...” I trailed off looking away from them.

“Don’t worry Seph, elves can be very secretive. I’ll keep your secret unless you say otherwise,” said Lord Elrond reassuringly.

Elladan didn’t know all of it, just the manner in which I arrived, but he too agreed almost immediately. 

“Thank you both,” I said sincerely. “Now then! I’ve been sitting here for far too long, can I get up and wander around, or will I have to sneak out when you’re gone?” I was grinning by then end, enjoying the looks on their faces.

“I won’t object, but I will advise against anything strenuous. You were seriously injured, and although we healed you, still need to rest,” Lord Elrond said slowly.

I laughed at that, pulling back the sheets and jumping out of the bed. They seemed alarmed at my sudden movements, Elladan moving to steady me if necessary. 

“Chill out I’m all good, I’ve had worse,” I said lightheartedly, brushing my hair out of my face. They both exchanged a worried glance when I said that I’d had worse...

“I’m fine seriously, please don’t look at me like that. If it make you feel better, I promise not to do anything overly energetic, okay?” I tried my upmost to seem genuine, but in truth I was itching for a spar at the very least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and comments gladly accepted. Thank you to people who have read and left kudos!


	3. Rivendell part 2

Rivendell was gorgeous. I was no daughter of Athena, but even someone like me could appreciate the architecture of the place. Everything was graceful and elegant. Sweeping arches and decorated pillars, open pavilions. The entire town was nestled inside a beautiful valley; there were waterfalls and trees in amongst the buildings, towers, walkways and bridges littered the area. I could see the snowy capped mountains surrounding the valley. All in all, I was at a loss for words.

Lord Elrond and Elladan showed me around most places, and if the other elves were bothered by my presence, they didn’t show it. They explained to me some of the history of the valley, and continued answering my questions about Middle Earth. Suffice to say I was shocked at first when I realised that the elves were immortal, and easily hundreds of not thousands of years old. Then I remembered that the Greek gods were too, as were the hunters of Artemis as well as many others from mythology. After that I felt stupid for even being shocked in the first place; this was hardly a new fact for me to come to terms with.

We had been walking around Rivendell for a while, heading towards the more open areas with fields and training grounds. Eventually we passed the stables, and I just couldn’t help myself. 

Evidently the two elves accompanying me didn’t expect such enthusiasm as I went over and started stroking them, listening to their conversations.

_‘-this ones not a pointy eared one like the others-’_

_‘-She smells funny-’_

_‘-Salty!-’_

_‘-I quite like the smell-’_

I started laughing at them. Evidently horses were just as vocal in this world as my own. 

“I’ll have you know I smell salty because of the ocean,” I said in mock offence to the horses.

_’wait a sec lads, did she understand us?’_

“Yep, I can understand you, so watch your comments around me. Thankfully you’re all not as rude as Arion!” I laughed as I stroked the mane of a tan horse. 

Tears prickled my eyes as I saw a beautiful black stallion. “You look so much like Blackjack,” I whispered as I went over and nuzzled the horse gently. I wrapped my arms gently around his neck, trying not to cry. I was hit with the sudden realisation of just how much I had lost in the last couple of days. 

_‘I think I’m her favourite!’_

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. “My father mentioned you could speak to horses, but it’s different actually seeing it!” Said Elladan.

I huffed slightly “well seeing is believing I guess.” Turing slightly to face him.

“Are you alright?” He asked gently.

“Not really if I’m honest, but I will be. How much did Lord Elrond say to you?”

“I worked out that you aren’t from this world. He said that you had great sadness weighing on your heart, although he didn’t mention the reason. He only told me about the horse speaking when you had a one-sided conversation.” He chuckled at the last bit.

“Well, you’re not wrong. Long story short, I was fighting our biggest enemy. I managed to defeat her I think, but she cursed me and I landed here. At which point you found me. So yeah, from what I can tell, I’m stuck here permanently... as for the talking to horses thing, my family does give me some awesome perks!” I tried to shy away from the topic of war and death, attempting to distract with jokes.

Elladan caught on to my not-so-subtle subject change. “Can you only talk to horses?”

I looked around the stable, seeing several large water troughs. Grinning wickedly, I lifted my right hand upwards, calling all the water to hover midair before shaping it into various creatures from Greek mythology: both the nice ones and the nasty.

Elladan gasped at my display. “That’s amazing! How can you do that? What are those creatures? I’ve never seen anything like them!” 

“Like I said: family perk. Let’s just say that water is my specialty though. These are creatures from my world.” I began pointing them out individually and explaining a little about them.

“-and this one is the Minotaur. Ugly bastard, I know. This bad boy was actually one of the first monsters I killed. I was 12 at the time.” I let the water slowly drop back into the troughs. 

“Only 12?” He seemed horrified. Rightly so. However I didn’t want to dwell on the past at that moment.

“Yep. So anyway, shall we continue? I think we should probably rejoin Lord Elrond after I ran off to the horses.” I giggled slightly at the last comment. 

He hesitated slightly, but then agreed. “We also need introduce you to Elrohir and Arwen soon,” he said as we found Lord Elrond again.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“My brother and sister. I’m sure you’ll get along well with both of them just as you have with me.” 

I smiled at that. “I can’t wait to meet them.” My heart couldn’t help remember everyone who I was separated from in that moment. I missed the seven, Tyson, Nico and Thalia, Grover. My mom. I missed camp halfblood. I hadn’t had the chance to celebrate returning to camp after the whole ‘Hera-kidnapped-me-and-stole-my-memories’ thing. Not that I was still salty about that, definitely not. I missed the canoe lake and the strawberry fields. I missed playing capture the flag, and singing round the campfire. I wanted to be at home. Finally done with the wars and ridiculous quests.

The three of us slowly walked back through the town to the room where I had woken up. We had spent a couple of hours exploring Rivendell, but I wasn’t going to admit I was tired. 

“So what’s next?” I asked, hoping to escape from forced bed rest. 

“You, Lady Seph-“ I suppressed an eye roll at being called a lady again “-need to rest. Yes, you are healed, but your exhaustion is not.”

“But-“ I started, only to stop once both of them fixed me with the same look. It was the look the Apollo campers gave you when you tried to sneak out of the infirmary without permission. That lot could be scary sometimes! 

“Um what about food?” I asked: because, priorities, obviously.

“Someone will wake you for food later.”

I huffed, but reluctantly clambered under the covers. I may or may not have stifled a yawn while doing so. “Wake me if I start screaming,” I muttered quietly as they left.

~~~~~~~

A small part of me had hoped that being in a different world might spare me from the horrors that are demigod dreams. Predictably, as if the fates had heard my wish, I was wrong.

The dream started in Camp Halfblood, evidently not long after I had disappeared. It was a mess. Most cabins were badly damaged, some were almost destroyed. The ground was torn up and covered in yellow monster dust. The entire camp were gathered, lighting burial shrouds for the fallen. Thankfully not many died, but I was still heartbroken seeing them. The campers took turns telling stories of each one before burning the shrouds. From the look of things, they had just lit Jason’s. 

I thought they were done, as his was the last one to burn, but then Annabeth stepped out holding a beautiful sea green shroud. My heart shattered at that. It was official. They thought I was dead, and I had no was to tell them what happened. 

“Seph was the bravest demigod I have ever known. Even through we got off to a rocky start when she first came to camp, I- I‘m so honoured to have been her friend, and to have fought through everything side by side with her-“ she broke off into tears. 

Clarisse spoke up next. “Despite what you punks think, Prissy and I were decent friends since the battle of the Labyrinth. Although infamous for taking stupid risks and being a self-sacrificing idiot, she fought with skill and honour and bravery. I hope that you punks come to realise just all she has done for you.” 

Nico and Hazel exchanged glances, as if they could tell I wasn’t in the underworld, but also wasn’t in their world. I felt bad for them. At least the other campers had the luxury of thinking I was dead, not stranded in a different world, still kicking.

Many others came forwards with words to say and stories to tell. I was certain I was crying, both in dream and in the physical world.

As my shroud was lit, the dream changed.

Darkness.

Falling.

Air rushing past my ears.

Then it changed to blistering red. The pits of Tartarus filled my vision once more, only this time, I was alone. The dim lighting was just as haunting as I remembered, casting everything in an eerie glow. Black jagged mountains framed the horizon, and the sulphurousair was choking. I heard angry shouts and clashes. Stomping feet, hollering voices. Turning, I saw a sight which made me want to vomit.

The hoards of the pits were amassing, almost every enemy I had ever made brandishing weapons against me, and I was powerless to do anything. I could see Arai, Empousai, Laistrygonians, Earthborn. There were Titans, Giants, all of the monsters I had defeated over the past 5 years, out for my blood, and here I was: defenceless. There was no curse of Achilles to save me this time.

Riptide wasn’t with me in this dream, and unlike last time, there was no death mist to hide me from their view. I was public enemy number 1 down here aside from the gods, yet all I could do was try and block and dodge as many attacks as possible with no weapon or water to help me. 

Burning pain soon became all I knew, as I was slashed, stabbed, cursed, poisoned over and over with no sign of relief. My throat became hoarse with screams as the monsters of Tartarus enjoyed their revenge slowly and painfully. My mind had completely forgotten that this was a dream, and as my vision fizzled out, I depaired.


	4. Truths and Nostalgia

(3rd person POV)

Elladan was on his way to wake up Seph for dinner when the ground shaking started. The screaming and crying followed soon after as he approached her room. 

Seph had tears streaming down her face, eyes scrunched shut as she thrashed around, getting tangled in the sheets. Elladan ran towards her, and tried shaking her to wake her up. 

“Seph you need to wake up! It’s just a dream,” he said desperately.

Arwen came rushing through the doorway, having heard Seph screaming. _”What’s going on?”_

 _“She’s having a nightmare,”_ he replied urgently. “Seph please wake up, my friend. You’re safe here-“

Suddenly Seph’s eyes snapped open and she shot upwards. She was breathing heavily, still half sobbing and the ground stopped shaking. “S-sorry....” she started before Arwen wrapped her in a hug, gently shushing Seph until she calmed down a bit. 

Seph pulled back from the hug, looking at the floor. “Sorry Elladan, I should’ve warned you about that.... I- I haven’t lost control during a nightmare before...” 

“Hey it’s okay, no one was hurt and nothing was damaged,” he said reassuringly. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

Seph shook her head. “Please tell me there’s food. I need a distraction right now,” she said quietly. 

“I was on my way to wake you anyway,” he said softly. “Seph this is my sister Arwen,” said Elladan gesturing to the she-elf.

“Nice to meet you, sorry it was my screaming fit that prompted it though,” Seph said jokingly.

“And I you, Seph. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here,” said Arwen kindly.

“Thanks,” Seph muttered, looking at the floor. “Could you two give me a sec to sort myself out and all that? I’ll be out in a minute I swear.”

“Of course, we’ll be outside,” said Arwen.

The two elves walked out of the room gracefully. 

_”Do you think she’ll be alright?”_ Asked Arwen softly.

Elladan sighed. _“I hope so. Both father and Seph herself have mentioned difficulties, but I didn’t imagine anything resulting in that.”_

Soon after, Seph appeared as if nothing had happened: practically bouncing at the idea of food. 

~~~~~~~  
(Seph’s POV)

In my mind, dinner was a glorious affair. But then again, I had been on an empty stomach after fighting the giants in Athens, and then Gaia at Camp, then being flung into a different world. Despite my appetite being diminished from my time in the pit, this time I feasted handsomely.

I had apologised profusely to Lord Elrond over the whole causing-an-earthquake-in-my-sleep thing, but thankfully he wasn’t angry. 

Elrohir as it turned out was just as kind as Elladan and Arwen. The resemblance between the three was obvious too; all tall with dark hair and blue eyes. The twins, although regal and elegant, had a mischievous glint in their eyes I knew only too well from the Stolls. Obviously they were very different from the Stolls, but I knew that we would get on like a house on fire given the chance.

By the end of the meal, I had come to the conclusion that all elves were insultingly beautiful and there was nothing I could do about it. Looking around the room, I felt extremely underdressed. The elves wore beautiful flowing garments that screamed elegance and sophistication. It was a totally alien experience to me.

Thankfully that night, my nightmares didn’t result in the same dramatics I had caused earlier. Make no mistake the dreams were not good, however I didn’t cause any earthquakes or scream the town down, so I counted that as a win.

The next morning, I woke early. I felt restless lying in bed, used to the haphazard life on the Argo II rather than the relaxed ambiance of Rivendell, or Imladris, as I was told it is called in Sindarian. 

I got up and changed into a pair of clean clothes which had kindly been provided by Arwen. I then went and wandered outside to the nearest river, sitting down on a bank so that my bare feet could dangle into the water. The cool current was refreshing and energising, warding off my previous exhaustion from the last few weeks. 

Letting out a deep sigh, I closed my eyes, allowing my face to tilt towards the early morning sun. I hadn’t felt peace like this since the days after the Titan war before I was kidnapped. It made me feel nostalgic, although upset that I couldn’t be there with my friends to celebrate the end of the Giant war. Opening my eyes, I absentmindedly lifted a small trickle of water, weaving in around my fingers as I reminisced. 

“You’re up early,” came a lilting voice from behind me. I was so lost in thought that I jumped, yelling violently in Ancient Greek.

I froze when I realised just what I had said, feeling an embarrassed blush start to heat my face. Standing behind me was Elrohir, who seemed quite amused at my outburst.

“Sorry! You made me jump,” I squeaked out, still embarrassed.

He chuckled at that. “Although I have no idea what you said, I could probably guess. Do you mind if I join you?” 

“Um sure, go ahead,” I quickly released the water I had been messing around with, hoping he hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t that I wanted to keep it a secret, but explaining was a pain, and my previous explanation to Lord Elrond was patchy at best. 

“What were you thinking about so hard? You don’t seem the type to jump easily,” he said.

“I was thinking about some stuff that happened a year ago and was reminiscing over it. Sorta zoned out everything else...” I trailed off as I gazed into the river.

“And the water manipulation?” He asked kindly. 

Damn. I had hoped he hadn’t noticed. I sighed and asked “you saw that? How long were you watching me?”

“Not long at all, I assure you. But long enough to see that, which was if I may say so, amazing.”

I snorted. “That was nothing, probably the least impressive thing I could’ve done with it. I was only playing around with the water.”

Elrohir seemed surprised. “That wasn’t difficult for you? How can you be able to do that anyway? That’s the sort of power the Israeli wield.”

I didn’t answer for a little while, mulling over my options. Thinking it through, Lord Elrond and his three children (even though they were all hundreds of years old) had all been aware of my powers in some form, and even though I knew them for only a day, I trusted them with a proper explanation. 

“No, that wasn’t hard for me. It was more of an unconscious thing, like how some women twirl their hair or people fiddle with things when they think. As for how, I will tell you properly, but I only want to say this once, so when Lord Elrond, Arwen and Elladan are available, I’ll tell you all. Warning though, I’m rubbish at explaining.”

Elrohir smiled. “I look forward to it in that case, Seph.”

~~~~~~~

True to my word, later on in the day, all four of them were available. I gathered them all in Lord Elrond’s study so that we had some semblance of privacy. 

“Right, so Lord Elrond already sort of knows this, but my explanation was a mess because I was confused and upset and tired at the time. Even though I’ve only know you lots for a day or so, I trust you and think you deserve the truth, so please bear with me on this.”

The elves all smiled reassuringly at me, which definitely helped.

“Right, so I’m going to tell you a story of my people and the world that I come from to help you all understand.”

I already had an interruption from Arwen. “The world you come from? Are you implying what I think you are?”

“Umm yeah. All will be revealed in time, I swear. Just gimme a minute to get to that bit.

“Okay. So I’m sure you’re all aware that various races and people have various beliefs about deities and how the world began and all that. In my world there are many such religions, this is mine. 

“First came the primordials. I’m only going to talk about the ones important to my story. So the primordials hold power over certain realms, like Gaia of the Earth, Ouranos of the sky, T-Tartarus of the pits of hell, Nyx of darkness and night. 

“Gaia and Ouranos created the twelve Titans, ruled by Kronos. The Titans destroyed Ouranos, taking over ruling. They birthed the gods which rule over us now after overthrowing the Titans. Gaia tried to destroy the gods by creating a race of giants, each one was the opposite of a specific god, however they were unsuccessful in their uprising. 

“To us, there are 12 main Greek gods, know as the Olympians. The most powerful of the gods are the Big Three. Also known as Zeus, god of the sky and lightning; Poseidon, god of the seas and earthquakes; and Hades, god of the underworld (which is basically the afterlife). There are many other Olympians, such as Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, or Hephaestus god of fire and forges, to mention but a few.

“Now then into the important bit. The gods often had children with mortals (humans) creating demigods. These demigods would usually inherit some form of power/trait from their godly parent. However monsters of our world hunt and kill demigods, as they cannot kill the gods. They are attracted to our scent, and the older and more powerful we are, the easier they can find us. Usually they start to find demigods around the age of 12, but it depends really. We have a safe haven which protects us, where we can train and live in relative peace usually, but many don’t even make it to camp. 

“As you have probably realised, I am also a demigod. Hence why I know and believe all of this.” I paused a moment to gauge reactions and to take a breather. All this stuff was making my head hurt. 

“And to clarify, which god is your parent?” Arwen asked kindly.

I grinned. “My father is Poseidon, god of the seas, earthquakes, and Lord of horses. Thanks to this, I can manipulate water to my will. I can breathe underwater, use water to heal me, talk to sea creatures and horses. I can also create storms, hurricanes and earthquakes, like you witnessed yesterday before dinner - sorry about that again - but I don’t do that very often, unless the situation calls for it.”

“Seph, how did you end up here in Rivendell?” Elrohir asked softly.

“Ah... so... over the last two years, there have been two attempts to overthrow and destroy the Olympian gods, neither of which were successful I might add. The second of which was attempted by Gaia. She had been slumbering for centuries and was waking up. In order to try and destroy us, she revived the Giants from their imprisonment in Tartarus. A group of seven demigods including me went on a huge quest following a prophecy in order to try and close the doors of death and prevent her rise as well as few other things. I’m not going to go into the details of the whole quest, because it was horrible, but long story short she woke at the very end. There was a huge battle, it wasn’t going well. I used all the power I could muster to try and destroy Gaia, which resulted in severe exhaustion and she managed to injure me pretty badly by the end. I managed to do it, but as she was destroyed, she cursed me to ‘never again walk on this earth’. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a bed here. The rest you know.”

They looked sadly at me, which set me on edge slightly. 

“Thank you for telling us _Mellon_ ,” Lord Elrond said. “I have to say, that explanation was an improvement on the last one.”

I grinned at the last comment. “Honestly Annabeth would’ve given a much better explanation, but that was about the best I can muster. Also, what does ‘Mellon’ mean?”

“It means friend,” said Elladan. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, who is Annabeth?” Asked Elrohir.

“Annabeth is the smartest person I know. She’s the daughter of Athena, so she’s incredibly clever. She’s my best friend. Almost every quest I’ve had, she was there with me. We’ve saved each other many times over the years, but I wouldn’t have survived the last one without her.” I tried not to dwell on the fact I couldn’t speak to her again. 

“Can you tell us more about your home?”

I smiled softly and began telling them all about camp Halfblood, and the campers. I only focused on the happy memories, but I told the elves about some parts of my quests. I described the camp in stunning detail and spoke of everyone I missed. Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Grover, Clarrise, Will, the Stolls, Hazel and Frank, my mom and Paul. I even mentioned some who had died (Jason, Leo, Piper, Silena, Beckendorf) choosing to remember them in their prime. Honestly it served as closure for me. I was able to relive some of my happiest memories and come to terms with my separation from them. Although I dearly wished to be with them again, I was glad that my sacrifice had ended the war. Hopefully the demigods could finally live in peace without the worries I had during my time at camp.

There were tears in my eyes by the end, but Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir were comforting and each wrapped me in a warm hug. I felt much better having told them, and even though the wars and Tartarus would still haunt my dreams, at least I had people who I could turn to.


	5. Sparring and Dreaming

It was the next day that I finally managed to scurry away to the training field. My whole body was aching to fall back into a familiar routine of whirling and slashing with Riptide. I was beyond overjoyed that by the time I was sent into this world by Gaia, Riptide had already reappeared inside my pocket. 

The training fields were empty, so I found a set of dummies and began stretching out my muscles. I uncapped Riptide, swinging it around slowly and getting back into the motions. I went through the stances and movements without the dummy first, keeping the movements controlled and constantly flowing from one to another, gradually increasing my speed as the repetitions flew past. 

Soon enough, I felt warmed up and relaxed. I let out a breath of air and begun my attacks on the training dummies, methodically slicing, lunging, ducking over and over. Riptide became a blur of bronze as I hacked my way through dummy after dummy, only halting once all the dummies were rendered useless. 

I stepped back and briefly admired the mess I had created before recapping Riptide.

“That was quite the display Seph!” I turned to see the twins Elladan and Elrohir watching me. I was glad it was them. Although I had encountered some of the other elves already, I’m not sure how they would’ve reacted to me tearing up the training ground. At least the twins were more like me in that respect.

“Sorry about the dummies. I’m sure I can make more, I used to help out making them at camp sometimes,” I told them.

“Eh, those ones were old anyway!” Elrohir said jokingly. 

“Do you two fight? If so, would either of you care for a spar? Dummies are only so good, they don’t really fight back,” I said surveying the mess again. “And they don’t really hold up to my sword,” I added, laughing.

“Where is your sword? You had it a moment ago,” said Elladan.

I grinned and pulled out my ballpoint pen, beckoning them closer. “Behold! My mighty weapon!” Inside I was cackling at their confused expressions. I uncapped the pen, watching the childish delight that overtook their faces. 

“Woah!”

“It’s beautiful!”

“What’s it made of?”

“What does the writing say?”

Their questions came at me like a crashing wave. Laughing I twirled Riptide around in my hand. 

“My sword is made of Celestial Bronze; a rare metal of Ancient Greece mined from Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. The metal is very strong, and when used properly can cut through some weaker metals like butter. 

“The writing is its name: Anaklusmos, in Ancient Greek. In English, or Westron as you lot call it, it translates to Riptide. This sword is old, but truly belongs to a child of the sea. I’ve had this sword ever since I was 12, and it got me through many a fight.” I looked down at the sword fondly.

“So, wanna spar?” I bounced slightly on the balls of my feet. I had no doubt that there was a mischievous glint in my eyes. “Pleaseeee? I promise not to destroy anything else.”

“Alright, I’ll spar with you Seph,” said Elladan, matching my grin as he drew a beautiful elves blade. 

“Terms?” I asked.

“Fatal blow,” he said.

“Bring it on!”

We stood surveying each other for a moment. Quick as lighting, Elladan lunged towards me. Evidently elves were fast; thankfully so was I. Twisting to avoid his strike, I brought Riptide up and spun at his undefended side. He subsequently leapt back, keeping his blade up and ready. I pressed his moment of hesitation and moved in again. 

We traded blows, testing each other’s abilities, blocking and parrying with surprising speed. Evidently Elladan didn’t expect me to be this fast. 

After a short while, I decided to switch it up a bit. I ran at him, jumping last-minute as he went for a slash at my legs. I used his shoulders as a vault, flipped over him and turning mid air to block his blade again as soon as he swung. I then carried out a rapid set of attacks ending with the disarming move Luke taught me all those years ago. Despite the elves being strong warriors, it still worked a treat. Elladan’s blade flew out of his grip and I pointed Riptide at his throat. 

“I win!” I grinned at him and lowered my blade. Elrohir retrieved Elladan’s sword and came over to us.

“How in Arda did you do that last move?” He asked. Both twins were looking at me with something akin to awe. 

I laughed and smiled as I said: “I learnt that in my first sword fighting lesson. I was taught by the best swordsman in 300 years, as they used to call him at camp. I think I stole his title in the end though...”

I put Riptide away and went over to them.

“Thanks for the fight! That was fun, I enjoyed it. You elves sure do have some nifty moves of your own!” 

“The pleasure was all mine Seph, we must do this again sometime,” he said.

“Hey Elrohir, will I get a chance to spar with you at some point?” I asked.

“I would be honoured,” he replied with a grin. 

“This is gonna be epic,” I stage whispered to them, smiling.

~~~~~~~

(A few days later)

Surprisingly the dream that awaited me wasn’t of Tartarus, as per usual. Instead I was greeted by a tall man. He had wavy blue locks with an impressive beard to match. His face was strong, but there was a kindness around his sea green eyes. The man had glistening silver vambraces, deep blue robes, and had a beautiful trident gripped in his right hand. Armour plates could be seen at his shoulders and across his torso, all embellished with silver wave patterns.

“Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, two-time saviour of Olympus” he said in a rich voice.

“Ummm, hi?” How the heck did this dude know any of that?

“I am Lord Ulmo of the Valar. King of the seas in Arda.” My brain clicked. Lord Elrond had spoken of the Valar as the gods of this world. Of course I had managed to annoy the gods of this world as well as the ones in mine.

“I kinda figured from the trident and the blue theme going on. Nice to meet you Lord Ulmo. You remind me of Dad honestly, but again, no surprise there. What can I do for you?” Let’s be honest, diplomacy with deities was never my style. I was all for cutting to the chase.

Surprisingly, Ulmo smiled at my bluntness. He huffed slightly. “You’re definitely a child of the sea with that attitude.” 

“Yeah, I’ll admit I’ve never been good at this kind of thing. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry if I offend you. I have respect for sea deities,” I smirked slightly.

“I have called you here for two reasons. The first is a warning. Despite what you might want, your questing days are not over. You have many hardships still to face, although I have faith in your success. Soon, a company will be headed for Imladris. You must join with them on their journey. I understand your apprehension and even anger towards my request, but believe it or not, you would go without my intervention. It’s in your blood to help others, as I’m sure you are aware.”

I sighed, not surprised. “Athena always warned me of my fatal flaw being loyalty. If they need help my moral compass goes nuts.” Part of me felt I should be annoyed at this, but I was beginning to resign to it.

He chuckled. “Indeed. However, there is another matter I wish to address. I want to claim you as my champion, thus cementing your status as a child of the seas both in this world, and your own. I know of your bravery and achievements in your world, and I can say with certainty that you have done the oceans proud.”

He rested a hand on my brow.

“I, Lord Ulmo of the Valar, do hereby claim Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, as my champion.” 

I heard waves crashing, and a salty scent fill the air. “I-I don’t know what to say other than thank you.” Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.

He brought a hand out from under his robes and offered it to me. Inside was a necklace with a deep blue gemstone set delicately with tendrils of sliver framing and curling round the edges of the stone. 

“This necklace is a gift, claiming you as a child of the oceans of Arda. If you are truly in need, hold the stone and think of the ocean. Have faith, and it shall not fail you.” 

I gingerly took the gift from his outstretched hand, gently fastening the clasp around my neck. “I won’t let you down,” I said grinning. 

“Farewell Persephone, my champion. The Valar are with you in your endeavours,” he said firmly resting a hand on my shoulder before the dream changed.

I saw an old man with a grey pointy hat and a staff leading a group of what looked like dwarves through the woods. There were at least 10 of them, each riding a pony. I reckoned that this was the company Ulmo mentioned.

I saw the group at night without the old dude. Something large shirted through the trees. 

The images shifted again to see an old ruin of a fortress or castle of sorts. I willed the dream to move inside the crumbling walls. I saw lots of large ugly monsters, which looked like what the elves described as orcs. They were grey-ish, dirty and kinda deformed. The held crude but wicked weapons. In amongst them were huge wolves, growling something fierce.

The leader of the group was a tall albino, missing part of an arm, and had a scarred face. I had no clue what he was saying, but it didn’t sound good. The dude sounded angry. The only word that my brain managed to latch onto was ‘Oakenshield’ which sounded like a name. Something about it seemed important.

~~~~~~~

When I woke up, my gut was telling me I needed to find that group of dwarves. Preferably as soon as possible. As I tied my hair back in a high ponytail, I noticed that the necklace from my dream was now sitting proudly around my neck, glistening in the morning light. I smiled softly at it before getting changed.

Thankfully over the past few days, Lord Elrond and Arwen had gotten me several sets of clothes, as well as some leather boots and light leather armour. They had both told me firmly ‘I shouldn’t be without protection in this world’. I thought they were overreacting.

The armour consisted of a vambraces, breastplate/top thingy and shoulder guards. Simple, but I found that they were practical enough to still give me the full range of motion when fighting. The pieces were dark brown, lightly embellished with wave designs and had sliver pins holding the pieces together around the more sculpted areas.

I pulled on a pair of black pants alongside a dark green short sleeved shirt. I put on my boots before fastening the vambraces over my forearms. Following this, I put on the rest of the armour, marvelling at how light and comfortable it was. The armour covered my ribs, back and breasts, as well as my shoulders, but left my upper arms and my neckline free. Finally, I pulled on a black leather trench coat. I felt like a total badass in that coat.

I did some stretches and experimental swings, making sure that nothing was too tight before leaving to find Lord Elrond.

Thankfully I found him in his study. 

“Lord Elrond, I know this is sudden, but I need to leave.” I proceeded to tell him about my dreams; both of being claimed by Lord Ulmo, and seeing the company and the orcs. I told him about demigod dreams being prophetic, so hopefully he understood that I knew where to go.

“Call it a sixth sense or whatever, but I know I need to go and find them. Even if I hadn’t spoken to Ulmo, I would still know. It’s kinda like a demigod homing beacon. This is something I have to do. Although I’m sure I’ll be back here before you know it, the group were heading in this direction anyway. I-“

He cut me off with a hand. “I understand, Lady Seph. However you must promise me to be careful. You don’t know the land outside of Imladris. No matter how good your ‘homing beacon’ as you called it, is. I’m tempted to send someone with you-“

I interrupted him this time. “No! I appreciate your concern, really, but I have to do this alone. Chill out, I’ll be fine! Also why the ‘Lady Seph’ thing again?”

Lord Elrond sighed. “You’ve been claimed by a member of the Valar. There’s no denying it now, by the standards of Arda, you’re a Lady.”

“Great,” I muttered sarcastically, causing Lord Elrond to laugh. 

“I’ll be back soon, probably with a load of dwarves, just giving you fair warning! But I promise to be careful.”

“Good luck, Lady Persephone.” He said kindly as I turned to leave. I smiled at him before offering my own goodbye.


	6. Meeting Dwarves and Wizards

I left Imladris via the main path, which eventually led into an open plain. I crossed the river which marked the boarder with graceful ease, enjoying the rush of the current. I then set out onto the rocky plain; seeing an area of woodland, I decided to head for that. There were trees and woodland in my dream, so that was probably the best place to start. I kept an eye on my surroundings so that I could find my way back. So far I hadn’t found anything dangerous. 

It was slower progress than I would’ve liked without a horse, but I eventually reached the tree line. I decided to pause briefly for a snack. Thankfully I had the sense to take a few provisions with me even though I knew I would be back soon. 

As the day went on, I continued to trample through the undergrowth and weave through the tree trunks, but evidently I hadn’t left as early as I had thought, as soon enough the darkness began to encroach. 

I found a sheltered spot near some large rocks and set up a small fire. It was a good thing that I knew how to survive in the wild, thanks to Grover. Even though I knew minimal information about Arda, many of the plants were the same, so I was grateful for that.

As the night closed in, I leant against the rocks, so that I could wake up quickly if need be, and closed my eyes. I didn’t have the chance to dream. Not long after I closed my eyes, I heard the rustling of someone moving through the undergrowth. 

I opened my eyes cautiously, tensing my muscles in case I needed to move suddenly, only to come face to face with grey pointy hat dude from my dream. He was on the other side of the fire, still standing, so he couldn’t have been there long.

“Can I help you?” I tried not to sound rude, I’ve learnt not to disrespect old people (the Olympians etc don’t count in that analogy). “I’ll be honest, I was looking for you, but waking up to see you looming over my mini campsite was not what I was going for...”

He nodded once, seating himself opposite me. “Although I can’t say I know who you are or why you’re looking for me, it’s nice to make your acquaintance all the same.” 

“Errr right. I’m Seph Jackson. This’ll sound far fetched, but I’m supposed to join you and your company.”

“Well met Seph Jackson, I am Gandalf the Grey-“ my eyes widened at that. I knew that name from Lord Elrond.

“You’re one of the Istari!”

“Yes...” he looked quizzically at me. “How did you know of the company?”

“Well... I had a dream. This happens a lot, whether or not you’ll believe it. I was asked/told to join you. I’m good at this kind of thing, I was practically born for it,” I grinned at his confusion.

“Told by whom?” Gandalf narrowed his eyes slightly. 

“Lord Ulmo of the Valar,” I said proudly, enjoying the look of shock on his face. 

“Are you certain? There haven’t been accounts of the Valar interacting with humans for thousands of years.” He sounded urgent.

“Yep I’m pretty certain. He knew exactly who I was. He claimed me as his champion. Yeah I know - I young human woman and all that - seems unlikely, but I swear on the Styx it’s the truth.”

If it was possible, Gandalf looked even more shocked. 

“I can prove it. He gave me this necklace, claiming me.” I took the necklace off and carefully held it out to him. He took it gently.

“Interesting, that necklace does feel like the presence of the Valar.” He was quiet for a moment, as is contemplating the implications. “Very well, I believe you. However I must emphasise the dangers we will be facing on this journey. We-“

I cut him off. “This isn’t my first first quest. Far from it in fact. I can handle it, don’t worry gramps.”

Gandalf had the same worried look that Lord Elrond had when I first told him about my lifestyle. He gave me back my necklace almost with reverence, sighing softly. 

“One as young as you shouldn’t have had such experiences,” he told me sadly. 

I smiled. “‘Tis but the life my kind lead.”

I gave him the brief rundown, saying that I was from a different land far away, and was a certified badass. I obviously didn’t give the entire story, carefully bending the facts to my favour. I didn’t mention the different world. I avoided the topic of war and death as much as possible, but other than that, it was free terrain. I felt that I wouldn’t have be able to hide my powers from them, so I told Gandalf I was a demigod, just that the Greek gods were of this world, but very, very far away. I knew that in my world Greek gods weren’t the only ones to exist; that much was proved by the Romans. Therefore I didn’t see why the same couldn’t be true of Arda.

I thought if I hadn’t mentioned Ulmo, Gandalf would be less inclined to believe me. He stood suddenly, offering a hand to me. I accepted, letting him help me up. “Come, we must hurry back to them. I’m almost certain that something has befallen them in my absence.”

“Now that you mention it, I did see something in my dream about you lot. Something large was lurking in the shadows of the woods at night.”

“Hmmm than we should make haste. We have talked away the moonlight, we shouldn’t tarry.”

“I agree. Lead on, Gandalf.”

The wizard moved with surprising speed for an old man. We moved quickly towards the sound of shouting. I followed him behind a large boulder, having caught a glimpse of the dwarves, along with three large monsters around a fire. They sort of reminded me of Laistrygonians. Big, stupid, and ugly.

“So gramps, what’s the plan? You distract, I’ll kill them? I can take them, don’t worry.” I grinned and slipped my hand into my pocket, ready to get Riptide. 

He winked at me, saying “No. I’ve got a better idea. These are trolls, they’ll turn to stone in the sunlight. Wait here, it’s my turn to fight.” Despite his old exterior, I could see a playful look in his eyes. He was going to enjoy this. As much as I wanted to fight, I decided to hang back. 

“The dawn will take you all!” His voice thundered powerfully through the clearing. Respect to the wizard dude. He used his staff to split the boulder, letting the rising sun shine upon the trolls. They turned to stone slower than Medusa victims did, hissing slightly as they changed. 

I watched, leaning against the boulder, as the dwarves reclaimed their weapons and got each out of the sacs they were in, as well as untying the ones on the spit roaster. I wanted to go and help, but considering they didn’t know me, I didn’t want to start a fight or anything. Part of me was surprised none of them had noticed me. I wasn’t hiding or anything, just chilling out. 

One of the dwarves went over to Gandalf. He was surprisingly tall, had black hair, dark eyes, and carried himself like a warrior. “Where did you go, if I may ask?”

“Looking ahead,” Gandalf said breezily.

“And what brought you back?”

“Looking behind, among other things. Still, you’re all in one piece.” Gandalf smiled. 

“No thanks to your burglar,” the dwarf said.

“He had the nerve to play for time. None of the rest of you though of that,” Gandalf raised an eyebrow at the dwarf before looking around at the trolls.

I took that as my cue.

“Yo gramps!” I called out, stepping away from the rock and walking towards them. “Care you introduce us now? I think I’ve been waiting around for a bit now.” I grinned at him, even as the others around me drew weapons and got defensive. 

“Ah, yes I suppose so. Seph Jackson, meet Thorin Oakenshield. He is the leader of this quest.”

“Nice to meet you Thorin,” I held out my arm to him in greeting. He instead turned to Gandalf. 

“Why did you bring a woman back with you?” He muttered.

I dropped my arm and fixed Thorin with a wolf glare. “Hey, I can hear you. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean that I’m weak. I’ve faced things you’d never believe and come out in one piece; this quest is nothing.” My eyes had narrowed, and my voice was dangerously low. “You should never underestimate women, Mr Oakenshield.”

Before Thorin had the chance to respond, Gandalf cut in. “Seph is a strong warrior amongst her people, she has done these sorts of things before. I guarantee that she would be a valuable asset on your journey.”

“That remains to be seen, Gandalf.” He circled me slowly. I didn’t move an inch, knowing he was attempting to intimidate me. It wouldn’t work anyway. “So tell me, Miss Jackson, have you done much fighting?” His tone was condescending. 

“Yes.” I replied shortly, keeping my voice steely.

“How much?”

“Two major wars, many battles, as well as thousands of other fights and encounters.” The dwarves seemed shocked by that, but I didn’t let any satisfaction at their reaction show on my face.

“Sword or axe? What is your weapon of choice?”

“Sword.”

“Where is your weapon?”

“Hidden until it’s needed.” 

“What’s your motive? Why do you want to help us?”

I sighed. Here was the tricky part. “Because it’s what’s right. I’ve always had a thing about loyalty, and if people need help, I don’t like to refuse them.”

Thorin exchanged glances with Gandalf and a white bearded dwarf before turning back to me. “How can I trust you? It’s strange that a young woman should suddenly appear, with seemingly excellent battle experience, wanting to help just because ‘it’s right’. Something is amiss here.”

I rolled my eyes. “ _Di immortales_ are all dwarves this suspicious?” I muttered. “Fine, I swear on the Styx that I bear no ill-intentions towards you, the members of your company, or your quest.”

“What is the Styx?”

“Where I come from, swearing on the river Styx is a binding oath. Breaking it entails a fate worse than death, believe me, I would not joke about such matters. Besides, Gandalf trusts me. I think you should all trust him in his judgement. He is one of the Istari, after all. I’m sure in time I’ll be able to prove my word to you anyway.”

He huffed and then nodded his head. “Very well, Miss Jackson. Welcome aboard.”

I smiled, and turned to the audience I had gathered. “So, what are all of your names?”

Gandalf stepped in once more. “This is Balin, Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, and Bilbo.” He pointed them all out individually. 

Gandalf and Thorin began discussing something about the trolls, but i tuned it out, focussing on the people in front of me. 

“Bilbo? Weren’t you the one who distracted the trolls with talk of parasites? I’ve gotta hand it to you, that was very funny. Clever too,” I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. 

“Um, thank you,” he said quietly. “I was just improvising really...” he trailed off, looking firmly at the floor.

“Hey, don’t be like that. Improvising is one of the best skills to have. I know for sure that if I hadn’t been able to improvise, I’d have been dead long ago. Point is you did great, don’t knock yourself down.” 

Bilbo seemed to lighten up a bit at that. 

Fili and Kili came over at that point. “Did Gandalf mean it when he called you a warrior? That’s unusual for a female.” Said Kili.

“Um yeah I reckon so. I wasn’t lying when I said I could fight. Just because I’m a woman, doesn’t mean that should be unusual. Not where I’m from anyway.”

“Where are you from then?” Asked Fili.

I sighed looking away. “A distant land, far, far from here.”

“Let’s move out!” Called Thorin. “We’re looking for a large cave-like tunnel.”

I followed after Thorin and Gandalf through the trees. The others trailed behind us. Soon enough, we found what we were looking for. It stank something awful, so I stayed outside while the others investigated. 

I heard the dwarves saying something about gold, and a ‘long term deposit’, but I otherwise stayed out of it. 

I saw Gandalf had come out from the cave with two swords, and had just handed the small one to Bilbo. “Nice blades!” I called out, going over to them. “Can I see them?”

Gandalf held his out to me. I took it carefully, brushing away the webs and dust before drawing the blade. I admired it in the light, before swinging it a couple of times. 

“That’s a very good sword you’ve found. It’s very old, but that’s not an issue - so is mine. I’m surprised it’s still sharp after all that time in the cave though.” 

I re-sheathed the sword and handed it back to him, smiling. “This sword suits you.”

Gandalf tilted his head slightly. “Thank you, Seph.”

“No worries,” I said. “My friend is much better at matching weapons to people, but I learnt a thing or two from her.” 

“Something’s coming!” Thorin called out.

“Stay together! Hurry now, arm yourselves,” said Gandalf to everyone.

I hear blades being drawn, so I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it quickly, following the others towards the source of the panic. 

“Thieves! Fire! Murderers!” A voice shouted. Out from the bushes came the wackiest guy is ever seen. He had bird poo down one side of his face, and was riding a sledge pulled by rabbits. He had a long, bushy beard similar to Gandalf’s, and was dressed in brown.

“Radagast! Radagast the brown.” Gandalf sheathed his sword and approached the guy. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you Gandalf, I-“ he paused, looking confused. “Give me a moment... Ohhh. I had a thought, but I’ve lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue.” 

We all exchanged confused glances.

“Oh but it’s not a thought at all. It’s a sill old stick insect!” Said Radagast as Gandalf removed said insect.

“Gross,” I muttered to myself.

“I think we’d better talk alone,” said Gandalf as he led Radagast away from us. 

As the two men moved away from us, I recapped Riptide and put the pen back in my pocket. It was at this point I was approached by Thorin. 

“Where did your sword go?”

I smiled sweetly at him. “Hidden until it’s needed, as I told you earlier.”

He glared at me. “I saw you holding a weapon earlier. Why do you insist on hiding it?”

I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms. “Because you would ask too many questions. You lot wouldn’t understand without taking it the wrong way.” 

“You told me I could trust you. I should like to think you could trust me as well. I’ll admit I am suspicious, but if Gandalf is willing to vouch for you, then I am willing to listen.” Thorin fixed me with a look. 

I sighed deeply. “Fine, you win. But I’m not giving you the full explanation yet. It’s a hefty one which we don’t have time for now. Agreed?” I held out an arm.

“Agreed.” Thorin gripped my arm in agreement. 

I reached into my pocket and brought out the ballpoint pen. “Here it is,” I spun the pen around my fingers.

He scoffed. “You can’t be serious. That thing is the size of a twig.”

“This is a disguise. Watch and learn buddy.”

I uncapped the pen, watching as the bronze sword appeared as usual. Thorin stepped back in alarm. 

“How...?!” I grinned at him.

“Ancient magic. Unique to my people. But yeah, this is my sword.” I twirled Riptide around in glowing arcs, drawing the attention of some of the other dwarves. 

“It’s beautiful!” Gasped Fili, coming closer to admire my sword. 

“What is it made of?” Thorin asked, staring at it in awe.

“Celestial Bronze. You lot wouldn’t have heard of it; the metal can only be found where I am from. Even then it’s incredibly rare.” 

“Do you mind if I...” Thorin held out a hand, reaching carefully for it.

“Um sure, as long as I get it back,”  
I smirked. “Do you mind if I ask why?”

“We’re dwarves. Metal smithing is our thing!” Dwalin exclaimed.

I handed my sword over to Thorin, watching in amusement as the dwarves marvelled over my weapon. 

“What is the writing? What language is it?” Balin asked, peering at the blade carefully.

“It says ‘Anaklusmos’; the name of my sword. It’s written in Ancient Greek, which is a language my people used to speak. We still can, but we tend to speak Westron instead now. It translates as ‘Riptide’. “

“The metal is unlike anything I’ve seen,” Dwalin said.

“I told you it was rare. Riptide has been with me for years. Saved my ass more times than I can count.” I chuckled slightly.

Thorin handed back Riptide respectfully. “You carry a mighty weapon. Thank you for showing me.”

I nodded. “Thanks for letting me trust you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this chapter. Please leave a comment if you have any reviews or anything!


	7. Escape to Imladris

A howl broke through our conversation. I looked up, seeing the others doing similar.

“Wha... was that a wolf? There are wolves now?” Asked Bilbo.

“Wolf? No, that was not a wolf,” Bofur said while backing up slightly.

From behind them, a huge wolf-like creature (the same one I had seen in my dream) appeared and charged at us. Before the others could blink, I had moved towards it, cleaving Riptide through its flesh and killing it. Another had appeared behind Thorin, but Kili shot it down before it got closer. 

“Warg scouts!” Shouted Thorin. “Which means an orc pack is not far behind.”

“Orc pack?” Asked Bilbo. I felt bad for the guy. This wasn’t his scene, obviously.

“Who did you tell about your quest?” Gandalf asked Thorin. “Beyond your kin.”

“No one,” Thorin replied.

“Who did you tell?” Gandalf said louder.

“No one, I swear!” Thorin said. “What in Durin’s name is going on?” He asked lowly.

“You are being hunted,” Gandalf replied.

Thorin turned to me. “Did you lead them here?” He asked in a dangerously low voice.

”I swore an oath that I bear no ill-will towards you or the company. Why in the name of the gods would I break that? Besides, I approached your company from the opposite direction to the orcs. I couldn’t have lead them to you.” I put my hands on my hips as I fixed him with a firm look.

“We have to get out of here!” Dwalin said.

“We can’t; the ponies have bolted!” Cried Ori.

“I’ll draw them off!” That came from the most unlikely source: Radagast.

“These are Gundabad Wargs, they will outrun you,” Gandalf told him.

“These are Rhosgobel rabbits! I’d like to see them try.” There was a glint in the man’s eyes, he evidently wasn’t going to back down on this.

“Right, everyone get weapons out and prepare to run. Even if most of them follow Radagast, there’s bound to be a few stragglers,” I said decisively. 

“She’s right,” Thorin said. “Get ready.”

~~~~~~~

Radagast shot out of the trees on his rabbit sled at an impressive speed. He immediately drew the attention of the hunting pack, yet he was cackling like a madman as he wove in between rocks and circled around to keep the wargs and orcs away from us.

We hid behind the rocks until the pack had shot past us before making a break for the next rock formation. We kept up this pattern of short busts and hiding surprisingly well, even if we had a few close calls. 

That was until a lone orc rider was patrolling the rock above us. Thorin motioned for Kili to shoot the warg, which he did very well. It fel over toe side of the rock, landing in front of us.

Unfortunately, the dying screams of the monster drew the attention of the others. The orcs halted the wargs in their pursuit of Radagast. 

Dwalin and Gloin quickly killed the orc from the downed warg, but the orc pack had already located us and were on their way. 

“Move!” Gandalf shouted to us. 

From there on, it was a mad dash. We ran following Gandalf, weaving in and out of the rocks and stray trees. Regrettably the orcs had us surrounded at a distance. We fanned out, covering all sides as and where possible. 

Kili started shooting a couple of them, even Ori fired something from his slingshot (even though it didn’t have an effect). I had to hand it to them, these dwarves were brave. 

“Where’s Gandalf?” One of them cried. I hadn’t even realised he had gone, I was too focused on preparing to attack.

“He’s abandoned us!” Another shouted.

As the orcs began to close in, Gandalf appeared from a rocky cave. “This way you fools!”

“Go, all of you!” I shouted, taking point at the opening with Thorin as the other dwarves slid down into the cave.

One warg came very close, but Thorin cut it down before any damage could be done. 

“Kili, come on!” I shouted. “I’ll cover you if need be!” 

He turned and ran toward us, not noticing that the warg he was running from had been shot down. The three of us jumped down into the cave just as a horn could be heard. From our hiding place we didn’t see anything, but we heard horses, along with arrows flying and orcs screaming. I recognised the horn, but kept quiet.

A lone orc fell down into the cave. I prepared to deal with it, but it was already dead. Thorin pulled out the arrow that killed it and curled his lip in disgust. 

“Elves,” he growled, turning to look at Gandalf. I had no clue what his problem was, but I didn’t want to find out there and then.

“I can’t see where the pathway leads, do we follow it or not?” Dwalin shouted. 

“Follow it of course,” replied Bofur. 

I hung back as Gandalf said quietly “I think the at would be wise.”

“You’re a cunning man Gandalf,” I whispered with a smile, before following the others.

Unsurprisingly to me, but to the amazement of Bilbo, the little path opened out to a spectacular view of Imladris. The elven town looked as beautiful as always.

“The valley of Imladris. But it is know in the common tongue as-“

“Rivendell.” Bilbo interrupted Gandalf quietly.

“Here lies the last homely house east of the sea,” Gandalf said. 

I was aware of Thorin confronting Gandalf. “This was your plan all along. To make us seek refuge with your enemy!”

“You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself.” Gandalf fixed Thorin with a firm look. 

Thorin was having none of it. “And when the elves find out about our quest? Do you think they’ll give their blessing-“

“Yes.” I cut Thorin off in his ranting. “Whatever you have against the elves, Lord Elrond is a decent guy.”

I turned and walked along the path before Thorin could question me. I ignored the rest of Gandalf’s words to Thorin. I was aware of the others following behind me. Bilbo came alongside.

“Have you been here before?” He asked. “You mentioned knowing Lord Elrond.”

“Yeah. I arrived here injured badly, he healed me, saving my life.”

He looked shocked. “What happened? Are you okay?”

I smiled at him. “Nothing important, I’m all good.”

We walked down the path and across the main bridge to the town. We waited in the small pavilion. The dwarves started talking lowly amongst themselves. I leant agains one of the columns, closing my eyes.

“Mithrandir!” I opened my eyes to see Lindir walking down the steps towards Gandalf. The two began conversing quietly when the same horn we heard earlier was sounded.

I saw the elves riding along the pathway towards us, looking majestic as ever.

“Close ranks!” Thorin shouted. The dwarves pulled Bilbo behind them as they drew their weapons. I went and stood by Gandalf, not wanting to get caught up in all that.

The elven riders surrounded the company. “Gandalf,” Lord Elrond said as he dismounted from his horse. 

“Lord Elrond,” Gandalf replied with an incline of his head.

“I see you’ve met Lady Persephone. It’s strange for orcs to come so close to our boarders. It seems that something, or someone drew them near.” Lord Elrond nodded to me in greeting as he passed an orc weapon to Lindir.

“Ah yes. I’m afraid that might have been us,” Gandalf said as Thorin stepped forward. 

“Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain,” Lord Elrond said. I tuned myself out of their conversation, vaguely aware of Thorin being rude. 

We followed Lindir inside once Thorin and Lord Elrond had finished speaking. They led us to the dining hall to wait before food was ready. I could see the looks that some of the dwarves were giving me. Suspicion.

I sighed, turning to them. “What is it?”

“The elf Lord called you ‘Lady Persephone’, why. And how do you know him.” Count on Thorin for getting straight to the point.

I leaned back in my chair. “I don’t like it when he calls my that, but he insists now. Persephone is my full name, but I don’t like Hsiang it. Unfortunately elves are sticklers for formalities. As for how I know him, I arrived here badly injured not long ago. He healed me and let me stay and recover.”

“You still haven’t explained why he called you ‘Lady’,” said Fili.

“That’s complicated. I doubt you lot would believe me anyway.”

“Try us,” said Bofur.

I raised an eyebrow at them and their eager expressions. “This is not a good idea...” I muttered. “Fine! Don’t say I didn’t warn you though. I-“

“Seph what in the name of the Valar were you thinking?” I was interrupted by Elrohir and Elladan coming up behind me. 

I stood up from my chair, putting a hand on my hip. “What? What did I do this time?”

“Hmm how about disappearing with no warning or goodbye not long after you recovered from a near-fatal injury.” 

I was about to protest that I had good reason and was completely fine when I was caught off guard. Elrohir suddenly wrapped me in a hug. I was too shocked to respond as he let me go and Elladan hugged me as well.

“You had us worried, _Mellon nin_ ,” Elladan said once he let me go. 

“Chill out I’m fine! But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I was in a rush when I left. I don’t know how much Lord Elrond told you...”

“He told us enough, my lady,” Elrohir said with a grin and exaggerated bow.

I threw my arms up in the air as I exclaimed “Ughh not you guys as well! This is ridiculous.” 

They simply grinned at me. It was then that food was brought into the room. The dwarves forgot their questioning and their manners as they started eating (complaining about the food regardless that they were eating it).

Before long I excused my self and left, seeking fresh air and quiet for a little while. I found a bridge overlooking the valley to sit on, dangling my legs over the edge. I wasn’t sure how long I stayed there. 

After a while, Fili came across where I was. “We’re we to rowdy for you?” He asked with a laugh.

I smiled and said “nah, I’ve been in the company of far louder people. You lot are alright.”

He sat down nearby. “So, here’s the verdict. Gandalf said that we have to stay here for a few days. Apparently there are hidden tunes on the map which cannot be read unless under the correct moon or something.”

“I bet Thorin is thrilled about that,” I said with a smirk. 

“I admit, he’s not pleased. But then again, he has yet to start swearing and swinging a sword at them, so it could be much worse.” 

“What about the others?” I asked.

“They don’t like it, but they’re much more agreeable than Thorin is. Uncle always could hold a grudge.” He said quietly.

“Thorin is your uncle? Huh. Didn’t see that one coming. Although now I think about it, you and Kili do have a resemblance to him,” I mused.

“What about you? Why is a young woman such as yourself so far away from her family, claiming to thrive on such a dangerous life?” He didn’t sound suspicious, merely curious.

“Ha, that’s a complicated question really.” I turned back to look at the valley.

“No it isn’t,” Fili protested.

“What exactly do you want me to say?” I asked in semi-defeat.

“Okay, I’ll start easy. What’s your family like?”

I suppressed a laugh. That wasn’t an easy question. “My mom is awesome. She’s supportive, kind, amazing. I’ll admit that I miss her though, and I’m not ashamed. Something happened, and I haven’t seen her for almost a year. Now I probably never will.” I muttered the last bit under my breath. “My dad is more complicated, but I love him too. I have a half brother, and some pretty awesome cousins too. I could always count on them to have my back and vice versa.” I smiled at the thought.

“Come on, we should probably rejoin the others. I don’t need them being any more suspicious of me!” I got up and offered a hand to Fili.

“We’re just cautious,” he said as he got up. 

“I get it, don’t worry. I would be too if I were in your position. It just complicated. I wasn’t lying when I said you guys wouldn’t believe me anyway.” I patted his shoulder before we started walking. 

“Tomorrow. I’ll explain it tomorrow, but I need all of you to come with an open mind.”

“I can do that,” he said, smiling.


	8. Answers

After another night of nightmares, I got up early and made a beeline for the training grounds. The others were asleep, so I didn’t disturb them. If they wanted to find me, all they had to do was ask someone. Speaking to the elves would be good for them.

Unlike the last time I was here, I chose to focus on some of the more acrobatic movements in my repertoire. Once I had stretched and warmed up, I started practicing my rolls, jumps, dodges, handsprings (forwards and backwards), eventually incorporating kicks, punches and sword swings into the mix. It was exhilarating as usual. 

Later on, I went and found Bilbo. I knew he had a sword from Gandalf, so I wanted to make sure he knew how to use it.

I found the halfling among the rest of the company in an open pavilion. Some were chatting, some were training, some were simply minding their own business. 

“You know there are training grounds for a reason,” I called to the dwarves who were sparring. 

I spotted Bilbo talking to Balin about something. “Get up Bilbo, you’re coming with me.” 

He stared up at me, confused. “Good morning to you too Seph. Errr, why?”

I grinned. “You need to learn to use that new sword of yours, so I’ve decided to teach you.”

He looked like he wanted to protest, but I stood my ground. “No complaints. You’re on a dangerous quest with a company that is hunted by orcs. You need to be able to defend yourself at the very least. Come on!”

“It’s not a bad idea laddie,” Balin told him. 

“I’ll take you to the training grounds and we’ll start. You lot are free to come too if you like.” I turned to the other dwarves with a smile. I was surprised when they all actually agreed to come with us. 

I led them through the town to the training grounds, making idle chatter with them along the way. 

“Right, so Bilbo,” I said once we had arrived. “How much fighting have you done. It’s okay to say none.”

“Yeah, pretty much none...” he looked embarrassed. 

“Okay that’s not a problem.” I kept my patience easily as I introduced him to sword fighting. I had taught beginner teenagers, so an adult halfling was no problem. 

I showed him how to correctly hold his sword, and helped him with his stance before teaching him some basic blocking and striking techniques.

“Okay, so now you’ve got that much, what you need to do is practice those movements until they’re instinctual. I suggest you start with the dummy, but I’m sure someone will volunteer to help you out as a spar partner if you want.” I smiled at him as he went over to a practice dummy. 

“You’re a good teacher Seph,” Thorin observed. 

“Thank you. I used to teach some of the younger kids back home, so I got good at breaking stuff down easily. Honestly it’s easier teaching Bilbo. He actually listens, unlike the kids I had to deal with. I wasn’t even that much older than most of them.”

“How old were you when you started fighting?” 

“I was 12. Not sure how that compares to dwarf ages, considering that you live longer but mature slower than humans.” 

Bilbo came over at that point. “Seph do you mind if you practice the moves against me?”

“Sure Bilbo. I promise to only do the stuff you’ve learnt. No fancy stuff yet.”

He began his movements, using the basic strike patterns I had shown him. I blocked his attacks effortlessly, quickly following with attacks of my own. I kept things simple for him, not using my full speed either. I called out movements for him to follow, getting him into the habit of predicting and anticipating attacks. 

“Duck! Defend your side, look for an opening! Parry the strike! Go low, aim for the legs.” That’s sort of stuff. Bilbo was well and truly exhausted by the end, but he had made good progress for a first lesson.

“That was a great start! Nice work,” I told him as he hobbled over to a bench, and sat down heavily. 

“How... you not.... out of breath?” He huffed out between breaths. 

I grinned at him slyly. “Practice! Besides, I’ve been doing this stuff longer than you. You’ll get there eventually!”

I spun Riptide in a circle before recapping and putting it away. 

“How long have you been fighting?” Bilbo asked quietly. 

“Around 5 years now. But it’s not the length of time that matters, it’s the quality of time. Some can achieve what some people take decades mastering in a dramatically shortened time if they learn and practice properly.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me you’re only 17 years old?” Thorin cried loudly.

“Yeah. Is that an issue?” I replied sassily.

“You’re but a child, yet you claim to have participated in wars and battles. How could your people allow this?” He seemed angry on my behalf. 

“I’m practically an adult in the eyes of my people thank you very much. We had two separate wars back to back over the last two years. I was actually heavily involved in both for many reasons. It’s part of the life my kind lead.” I crossed my arms defensively, preparing for a verbal smackdown.

Fili sidled up to me then saying “remember yesterday? They all agreed to have open minds...”

I looked at Fili for a moment before I nodded and sat down on one of the benches, sighing. “Alright. It’s explanation time, so anyone who wants to know, sit down and listen.” 

The dwarves all did so, staying surprisingly silent. 

“So what do you want to know?” I asked Thorin. 

“Who are you really? Why does Lord Elrond call you ‘Lady Persephone’? Who are your ‘kind’ as you refer to them, I’m pretty sure you weren’t referring to normal humans... and why would they allow one as young as you to be heavily involved in not one, but _two_ wars?”

I nodded slowly. These were valid questions, and honestly I was going to have to explain sooner rather than later on this quest.

“My name is Persephone Jackson. I’m the daughter of the Greek god Poseidon, god of the seas, earthquakes, and Lord of horses. This makes me a demigod (half human, half god), and I’m not the only one where I come from. My people worship the Greek gods, and many of us are either the half-blood children of gods like myself, or we are descended from them which makes us legacies. 

“Due to the monsters that live in our world, we need to be able to fight. They hunt after demigods, so many of us die young. We’ve had two wars back to back. Both times I have played a pivotal role in each because of my heritage, power and age. This is why I know how to fight at such a young age. We fight or we die.

“When I came to Middle Earth, I was wounded very badly from the end of the last war. I was healed by Lord Elrond and had stayed in Rivendell until a few days ago. I was claimed by Lord Ulmo of the Valar as his champion. He gave me this necklace, and Gandalf has confirmed that it really is from him. This is why Lord Elrond insists on the ‘Lady’ title. Both because of my father, and that I was claimed.”

“Woahhh. That is both horrible and incredible,” said Ori after a large pause of silence.

I smirked. “Tell me about it. Any other questions? We might as well address them now, seeing as we’ll be in Rivendell for another day.” 

Most of them stayed quiet, simply absorbing what I had told them. 

“What does being a demigod actually entail?” Balin asked.

“Well.... I’m naturally stronger and faster than the average human. I have excellent battle reflexes most of the time. I also have powers from my dad. Because he is the god of the seas, I can control water, breathe underwater, heal myself with water, speak to sea creatures and horses, create huge storms, hurricanes and earthquakes on occasion. The last three I don’t do very often, as they’re hard to control and maintain. 

“Other than that, being a demigod means that we carry out the will of the gods, hence why quests are my thing. I’ve done plenty of them by now. And our dreams can be prophetic sometimes. That’s how I knew where to find you lot when I left Rivendell.”

“Can you do the water thingy for us now?” Kili asked keenly. 

I grinned and focussed on the river nearby. I felt a tugging in my gut as I called a gallon of water over to us. I held up a fist and made the water mirror my hand, similar to what I did at Camp Jupiter. I heard shouts and cries of amazement as I manipulated the water. “I take it you lot believe me now?”

Thorin gave me a look. “That’s pretty hard to fake. It’s also an incredibly detailed tale were it a lie, and I don’t take you for a liar, Persephone.” 

“Please call me Seph.”

He smiled at me. “Okay Seph.”

“Why did you leave your homeland? You didn’t mention hating it enough to travel all the way here,” asked Fili quietly.

I could feel my face falling at that. I returned the water to the river. “It was the price I had to pay to end the war. I didn’t come here by choice. Everyone back home thinks I’m dead; thinks I sacrificed myself and died a hero. Unfortunately I’m stuck here with no way back.”

Fili looked sad and guilty. “Hey it’s fine. I would do it all again if it meant saving as many of them as possible,” I told him.

Fili tackled me with a hug. “I shouldn’t have asked, Seph. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I whispered as I returned the hug. 

Once he let me go I turned back to Bilbo, grinning evilly. “So Bilbo, up for lesson two?”

~~~~~~~

Once Lord Elrond had deciphered the moon runes, we set about preparing to leave. Gandalf had mentioned that he would stay behind to consult Lord Elrond on a different matter, but that we needed to get a move on.

We left quietly, heading straight up into the mountains. It was at this point I was glad for all the practice I had had with steep rocky slopes. The raining was just the icing on the cake. I felt bad for the others, at least I had a natural waterproofing ability. 

Of course it was at that point the stone giants had to rear their ugly heads and begin having a fist fight.  
We all clung desperately to anything we could as the giant we were standing on got up to join the brawl. There were several near misses as we were almost crushed on the mountainside, and desperate leaps as we tried to get off and away from the giants. 

After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, all of us had managed to get onto a different path. Thankfully one that wasn’t part of a stone giant. 

We continued to trek along the thin path, going slower because of the growing storm. When I saw Bilbo slip and fall, I panicked. 

“Bilbo!” I cried, reaching for him, aware that the others were doing the same. “I need you to stay still and don’t freak out!” I shouted loudly so he could hear me.

I used the falling rain, shaping it into a ring which wrapped around his middle. I lifted the ring back up to the path, grabbing hold of Bilbo before releasing the water. “You okay?” I asked.

He was wide eyed, but managed to nod wordlessly.

“That was close! We almost lost our burglar,” one of the dwarves said. 

“He has been lost ever since he left home,” Thorin said darkly. 

“Don’t listen to him,” I whispered in Bilbo’s ear.

We kept moving to try and make some distance, but it was clear that everyone was exhausted. We came across a cave big enough for us to take shelter in.

“Right, let’s get a fire started!” Said Bofur.

“No, it’ll give us away. Get some sleep. Bofur take first watch.” Thorin said gruffly.

“I can dry you lot if you want. It’ll help you keep warm and stuff,” I said not really waiting for an answer. I walked over and tapped them one by one, drawing out the water from their clothes and hair and subsequently chucking it out of the the cave.

“Thanks Seph!” Said several of them once I was done. 

I lay down with an arm under my head and closed my eyes, but I didn’t go to sleep. Being in the dark cave wasn’t a good experience for me, and I knew that the nightmares would be bad here. 

After I while I heard rustling, followed by hushed talking. I managed to work out it was Bofur and Bilbo, so I opened my eyes and quietly went over to them. 

“I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do,” said Bofur kindly to Bilbo.

“You shouldn’t take what Thorin said to heart,” I whispered softly.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” They both replied in unison. 

I smirked and shook my head. “Demigod dreams, remember? This is not the sort of place I want to fall asleep in... anyway that’s not important. If I had turned back on my first quest because of a backhanded comment, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Don’t sell yourself short, I can see a stubbornness in your eyes, Bilbo.”

I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him firmly in the eyes. “I won’t stop you if this is truly what you want, though. I wouldn’t force a quest on anyone.” I sighed a little.

“What’s that?” Bofur asked, looking at Bilbo’s sword.

Bilbo drew the blade, to see it glowing an icy blue. “Oh dear...” I said, just as Thorin rolled over. I could faintly hear movement nearby, and it didn’t sound friendly.

“Wake up! All of you!” He shouted, and the dwarves started moving.

I saw the cracks appear in the ground and was about to shout a warning, but it was too late. The ground flipped and gave way. I couldn’t help the scream escape my lips as I fell. 

All my mind could thing about was the cavern in Rome; cracks widening in the ground as Annabeth was dragged backwards; grabbing onto her; and then weightlessness as we tumbled into the darkness. 

Falling. It brought back so many memories I wish I could forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading so far!


	9. Goblin Town

Thankfully, the falling didn’t last for very long. We landed in a heap in a weird half-cage thing. Probably just to stop us trying to escape by rolling off the edge. I looked around, noticing we were in a huge cavern system. 

Before I had the chance to take in any other details, a hoard of goblins came thundering towards us. We were all grabbed and manhandled (goblinhandled?) despite our shouting and wrestling. I heard some pretty colourful phrases coming from Gloin and Dwalin, which would have made me laugh if the situation were different. I tried to reach into my pocket to grab Riptide, but the goblins were holding my arms too tightly for me to slip out of their grasp.

The goblins dragged us along the rickety wooden paths and bridges of the cavern. There were easily hundreds of goblins, probably thousands, all of them looking creepy in the dim light of the flaming torches. There were crudely made buildings, wooden scaffolding and walkways lining the rocky faces of the cavern. The railings along some of the platforms were lined with skulls of various different species. The hollow eye sockets staring blankly at us as we were dragged past.

We were taken out in front of the biggest goblin of the lot. He was easily 12 feet tall, very fat and ugly. He had a few stringy hairs on his head, as well as a weird crown. He was obviously the leader then:?the biggest and meanest. The goblin leader had a horned skull planted on the top of a wooden staff, which he swung around liberally.

“Who would dare be so bold, as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?” His voice echoed throughout the cave as he shouted at us.

“Dwarves and a human, your malevolence,” one of the goblins told him, in a nasally voice.

“Search them!” The goblin king shouted. The goblins stripped us of any weapons and the like. They even managed to get Riptide in its pen form before tossing it. I didn’t worry, it would reappear in my pocket in a few moments. 

“What are you doing in these parts? Speak!” The ugly dude commanded. None of us said a word, we only stared back defiantly.

The goblin king smiled. “Very well! If they won’t talk, we’ll make them squawk! Bring out the bone wrangler, start with the youngest!” He pointed at Ori and me. 

The goblins started chattering and moving, but before long, Thorin stepped forward. 

“Stop!” He yelled loudly.

“Look who we have here! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror! King, under the mountain,” the goblin said with dripping sarcasm and an exaggerated bow. “Oh wait, you don’t have a mountain. And you’re not a king. That makes you no one really.”

Thorin said nothing, he only glared. 

“I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head.” There was something chilling about the goblin’s voice. “A pale orc astride a white warg, sound familiar?”

“Azog the defiler, was destroyed long ago,” Thorin said lowly. I could hear a barely controlled edge of anger in his tone.

“Was he?” The king turned to a messenger. “Tell the pale orc I have found his prize.”

I sidled up to Thorin. “Riptide is back in my pocket. I can make a distraction for you lot to reclaim your weapons so we can get out of here,” I whispered to him.

“There are thousands of them,” he muttered.

“I’ve faced worse odds,” I breathed, slipping my hand into my pocket.

One of the goblins unsheathed Thorin’s sword. Chaos erupted, much to my delight. 

“I know that sword!” The king was horrified. “He wields the Goblin Cleaver!” Goblins were shrieking and running from the blade. 

“Great, I love a weapon with a reputation!” I pulled out Riptide, making the most of the chaos. I whirled through the goblins, slashing and killing like a demon. “You lot, grab your weapons and fight back!” I screamed at the other dwarves.

“Someone kill her!” The goblin king shouted, pointing at me. 

“Bring it on big guy, you’re going down!” I yelled, twirling my sword ready.

There was an explosion of pure white, throwing back the goblins which were holding down the dwarves. From out of the epicentre came Gandalf, wielding a sword in one hand, and his wizard staff in the other. 

“You’re late, Gramps!” I yelled at him. 

“Take up arms. Fight!” Gandalf shouted to the dwarves who had yet to do so. 

The next minutes were pure chaos. Thorin and I managed to take a swipe at the goblin king, causing him to stagger and fall off the platform. The others began attacking with gusto, clearing the way as we began our escape. 

We ran, knocking over and killing goblins at ever turn as we charged over the wooden walkways. Gandalf took the lead, but that didn’t spare anyone from the fighting. I was impressed at all of their skills, and they had several varying styles. 

I saw Dwalin using a long pole to sweep oncoming goblins off the edge, Thorin slashing and stabbing, Bombur twirling a staff and bashing them, Gloin was going at it with his axe. Those were the only ones o could see from the corners of my eyes while I was fighting and running. 

The goblins were trying to swing at us from higher walkways across the cave, so at a Thorin’s command, we cut the ropes holding the structures together. The brittle wood fell with a satisfying set of snaps, and many of the goblins fell with it. The goblins who tried to land near us got tangled on the falling platform, so didn’t manage to reach us. 

Up ahead, Kili used a ladder to simultaneously push back goblins from our path, and create a bridge for us to use. I had to admit, it was a cool move. 

However the coolest one had to be when Gandalf magicked a huge boulder to fall in front of us. It effectively cleared our path, rolling over a ton of goblins which would have otherwise made an attempt to stop us. Not that that would have worked. 

I continued to attack, chopping off limbs, stabbing torsos. I even got in some swift beheadings. Part of me missed the way that monsters would burst into yellow dust back in my world. It was no where near as messy as the blood left by the goblins and orcs in Arda.

We were almost at the exit when the goblin king burst up through the planks in front of us, blocking our way. I didn’t let that stop me though. I carried on running, maintaining my speed as I dodged past the other dwarves. The king tried to swipe at me with his staff, but I used it as a spring: leaping onto it and launching myself at him. Riptide swiped clean through his neck in a flash of flowing bronze. 

Unfortunately, as his head rolled, his heavy body weakened the supports on the bridge we were standing on.  
We all shouted and screamed as we rode the wooden platform down into the depths like a sledge. It wasn’t a smooth ride. We were bashed and bumped all the way down, once again landing in a tangled heap. 

I tried wriggling out from underneath Kili and Nori, before cursing colourfully in Ancient Greek. “Get off me!” I said loudly. I wasn’t the only one cursing to try and get free. 

Once they finally got off, Kili held out a hand, helping me up. 

“Thanks,” I said as I brushed off the dust and splinters. I heard goblins rushing to get to us again. Looking up, we could see hundreds crawling over the cliffs.

“There’s too many of them, we can to fight them off!” Shouted Dwalin.

“We’re not out yet, come on!” Gandalf cried. “Daylight can save us!”

We charged through the tunnel, trying not to slip. Finally, we burst out of the darkness, into the blinding sun. Many of us couldn’t slow our momentum though, and kept running downhill, weaving through the pine trees. 

“Where’s Bilbo?” I asked, interrupting Gandalf in his register as we slowed to a halt.

“Who saw him last?”

“Did he get separated from us?”

“I thought he was with Dori!”

“Don’t blame me!”

“What exactly happened?”

“I’ll tell you all what happened,” Thorin spat. “Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since he stepped out his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone.”

We were all silent. 

“No, he isn’t,” came Bilbo’s voice as he stepped out from behind a tree.

“Bilbo Baggins! I can honestly say I’ve never been more glad to see someone in my life!” Gandalf exclaimed happily.

There were sighs of relief echoing throughout the company. 

“How on earth did you get past the goblins?” Fili asked in disbelief.

“Ahaha...” Bilbo didn’t really answer. He looked strange, and tried to avoid the question. 

“Well what does it matter... He’s back,” Gandalf said. I could see the calculating look in his eye though, he was suspicious.

“It matters,” Thorin said surprisingly softly. “Why did you come back?”

Bilbo turned to him and smiled wryly. “I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right. I miss my books... and my armchair... and my garden. See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. That’s why I came back... because you don’t have one - a home. It was taken from you, but I will help you take it back if I can.” 

Thorin bowed his head slightly. I looked around at the others, seeing the sadness reflected on their faces. I couldn’t help feeling similarly, but this wasn’t about me. 

I went over to Bilbo and clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s a noble sentiment to have. I respect that. You have a good heart Bilbo, never loose sight of that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated!


	10. Flaming Pinetrees

Howling that I now recognised as wargs cut through the trees. 

“Wonderful!” I muttered sarcastically as everyone tensed at the howling. 

“Out of the frying pan...” Thorin started.

“And into the fire. Run!” Gandalf finished.

We needed no further instruction, taking off at a sprint once more through the pine trees. I could hear the thundering paws of the huge beasts running down the mountainside. Inevitably they were gaining on us. 

Some of the faster ones caught up. I save Balin and Dwalin take one down efficiently before continuing to run.

“They’re coming!” One of them yelled to us, urging us to speed up.

I skidded to a halt, seeing the edge of the cliff close ahead. “Gandalf!” I shouted. “Cliff!”

“Into the trees, everybody!” The dwarves began leaping up to grab the braches, scaling the trees like a ladder. I gave Bilbo a boost up before following, mentally thanking Chiron for all the ridiculous obstacle courses over the years. The lava wall in particular , given the speed at which I was now able to leap and climb through the branches.

The pack of wargs raced beneath us, weaving between the trees. They barked and howled as they saw us in the boughs of the pines.

Out from between the trees came the same pale white orc I had seen in my dream back in Rivendell. He rode slowly towards us on a white warg, laughing sinisterly. 

“Azog!” Thorin breathed in disbelief and anger. “It cannot be...”

Azog started saying something, and before I knew it the other orc riders began their advance towards us once more. 

The wargs leaped up, trying to tear us from the branches, but we jumped to adjacent trees. They snarled, snapping branches and tearing at bark as we evaded them.

I tossed Bilbo onto a higher branch and jumped to follow him. Unfortunately when I was midair, one of the giant evil wolves managed to clamp its teeth around my left ankle, dragging me to the ground.

“Seph!” One of the dwarves cries out.

I yelled in pain, drawing Riptide and slashing at the warg’s face to get it to let me go. As I was released, I rolled and managed to get to my feet (although I was keeping most of my weight off my left leg). I killed the offending warg before quickly hobbling towards the trees as fast as I could manage.

The wargs other knocked over many of the pines creating a domino effect, forcing the dwarves to all settle on the same tree. I jumped as best as I could, and grabbed the branch, accepting a hand from Dawlin to get me to a higher branch with a bad leg. I ended up sat on a branch, one arm hugging the trunk. 

I managed to take a look at my leg briefly. It could’ve been worse, but there was blood running from the gaping wounds that the teeth had left in my flesh. I was lucky that the bones hadn’t snapped, given the strength of the warg’s jaw. My leg was throbbing hotly. I’d have given almost anything for ambrosia or nectar at the time. Even a source of water to heal the wound would’ve been fine. Anything so that I could’ve launched an attack on the orcs. Regrettably none of those things were granted.

Suddenly I saw a small bundle of fire fly from the tree and land in front of the wargs, spooking them slightly.

“Fili!” Gandalf dropped a flaming pinecone to him. Fili caught it, and was tossing it like a hot potato while Kili and Bilbo each picked another pinecone and lit them on fire. They collectively passed tossed flaming pinecones to the others, who followed suit. We threw the fire-cones at the wargs, flames catching on the fallen trees, creating a fiery barrier between us and them.

That’s when the roots of our tree decided to give up. The tree tipped horizontally over the edge of the cliff. 

Absolutely typical. It was like the fates were laughing at me from across the worlds.

We all desperately tried to hand on to the main trunk. Poor Ori fell, and in a desperate attempt to survive grabbed Dori’s feet. Dori tried to hold on, crying “Mr Gandalf!” As he too slipped. 

Gandalf thrust out his staff, which Dori managed to grab, but we could all tell that he couldn’t hold on for long. 

Thorin on the other hand pulled himself up and stood on the trunk of the pine. He walked off the tree, eyes focused on Azog as he picked up a branch for a shield. Thorin marched through the flames, breaking into a run as he charged towards Azog. 

Unfortunately, the white warg leaped and pounced on Thorin, winding him badly as he was slammed into the ground. He managed to get up, but did so too late. Azog was riding towards him, swinging his mace. 

The mace struck Thorin squarely in the chest before he had a chance to defend himself. Thorin was thrown back again.

“No!!” Balin cried, as this happened. 

The white warg picked Thorin up with its teeth, biting down hard enough for Thorin to cry out in pain, despite his armour.

I saw Bilbo climb up onto the trunk and begin to head towards him. 

“Thorin!” Dwalin shouted as Thorin cried out in pain once more. 

Thorin struck the warg in the face with his sword, but the warg threw him violently, slamming him into the rocks again. 

Azog said something to one of the orcs, who advanced slowly towards the fallen dwarf, raising a sword viciously. I could see Thorin desperately reaching for his blade, which was just out of reach.

“Come on!” I shouted to the others, pulling myself up and limping towards the wargs. I gritted my teeth as pain lanced up my leg. I had more important things to do than hanging back because of an injury: namely helping Thorin.

Just as one of the orcs was about to strike Thorin with a killing blow, Bilbo tackled the orc out of the way. He managed to kill the orc, but was obviously panicked as the orcs and wargs advanced on him.

The dwarves ran with renewed energy, brandishing weapons and shouting battle cries loudly. I ran too, ignoring the pain screaming from my leg as I charged alongside the dwarves. 

We attacked with force, managing to drive away some of the wargs and orcs. I slashed with Riptide, attacking the orc riders as best as I could. 

I then heard the screech of an eagle. I turned momentarily to see the largest eagles ever swooping in towards us. They grabbed wargs and threw them over the edge, tacking orcs similarly and wafting the flames towards many of them too. 

I saw one of them swoop down and carefully pick up Thorin before flying away from the flames. Other eagles began to do the same to the dwarves, and I panicked as I saw a pair of huge talons rushing towards me. I couldn’t avoid them as they collided with my arms and torso, lifting me off the ground. 

Before I could comprehend what was going on, the giant bird dropped me onto the back of a different one. I clutched desperately at the feathers, unable to stop the curses slipping past my lips.

“Holy Zeus!” I screamed. This was horrible! I was a child of Poseidon, now flying through Zeus’s domain (even if I was in a different world, I was still freaked) on the back of a giant eagle. And eagles, were Zeus’s sacred animal! The irony wasn’t lost on me, but this was genuinely not fun. At least when I flew on Blackjack, I was protected, as Poseidon is the Lord of horses; or when I flew on the Argo II, he was too at war with his Roman side to zap me out of the sky.

The swearing and cursing which came out of my mouth would have made even the dwarves blush I go they could understand any of it. 

The giant eagles carried us for hours, before they carefully deposited us all at the top of a lone rocky mountain which was surrounded by woodland. We were still surrounded by the mountains, but this one had a set of stairs carved into it, spiralling the long way down to the trees.

Thorin was gently placed on the ground, and the others rushed to him as soon as they leapt from the eagles’ backs. I landed with a badly suppressed yelp of pain, but ignored it as Gandalf approached Thorin.

The grey wizard did some of his magic whispering, and woke Thorin up. I assumed that he was partially healed by Gandalf, as once he was hauled upright by Dwalin and Kili, he immediately rounded on Bilbo.

“You!” He said loudly. “What were you doing? You almost got yourself killed.” 

Bilbo opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get a chance, as Thorin resumed his angry reprimand.

“Did I not say you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild? That you have no place amongst us?”

I along with several of the others glared angrily at Thorin. I was about to step in and defend Bilbo only to be gobsmacked by the next bit.

“I have never been so wrong in all my life,” Thorin breathed out, wrapping Bilbo in a bear hug. 

We all cheered at that. It was a heartwarming sight to see.

“I am sorry I doubted you,” Thorin said as he pulled away.

“No it’s alright, I would have doubted me too,” Bilbo replied. “I’m not a hero, not a warrior. I’m not even a burglar,” he looked at Gandalf at the last part. 

I smiled softly at the scene, admiring the view around us. I looked past Thorin and Bilbo, past the trees, where I could see a lone mountain on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated!


	11. The Journey Continues

Bilbo turned to look behind him, and he say the mountain too. “Is that.... what I think it is?” He asked softly.

The dwarves turned to see their home standing proudly in the distance. Nostalgic looks overcame their faces as they gazed with longing and hope. 

I took the opportunity to sit down out of sight and pull a roll of bandages out of my pack. I pulled up the leg of my pants and inspected the crusted blood in my leg. I wrapped the bandages around the wound tightly, making sure not to cut off the blood supply to my toes. I could sense a river below in the trees, I could manage until then. 

“Erebor. The lonely mountain,” Gandalf said mightily. “The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle Earth.”

“Our home,” Thorin said softly. 

I pulled the pant leg back over the bandages and stood up, just as I heard Dori exclaim “Look, a raven! The birds are returning to the mountain!”

“That, my dear Oin, was a thrush,” said Gandalf.

”Well we should take it as a sign. A good omen,” Thorin said, looking slightly to Bilbo.

“You’re right, that’s a good sign. I do believe the worst is behind us,” Bilbo said softly, still gazing at the lonely mountain.

I sighed and went over to him, managing to hide my limp quite successfully. “Bilbo, next time don’t say that. I’ve got enough experience to know not to jinx your luck with quests,” I told him solemnly. 

“Ah... sorry Seph,” he said sheepishly. 

I cracked a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s fine. I’m sure one of us would have said something similar at some point.”

“Right! Let’s get off this rock and make camp in the forest below, you all need rest after that lot.” Gandalf was decisive on this matter, and as long as I got to the river, I didn’t care. 

“I saw the steps when we landed, this way,” said Balin as he walked off.

We followed. I hung back, making sure I was last so that the others couldn’t see me grimacing.  
The stairs weren’t fun with my injury, but at least we were going down them and not up. I managed to keep strong by reminding myself that is my best friend could trek through Tartarus with a broken ankle, going down some stairs with a torn leg is nothing. The mentality served me well, as I was able to make it all the way without stopping once, pushing any pain to the back of my mind and focusing on something else. 

Once we reached the bottom, Gandalf suggested that we head towards the river to get fresh water. Internally I was thankful for his suggestion. I could sense the rushing water not too far away as we set off through the trees.

“How’s the leg?” I was pulled from my thoughts suddenly by Fili. I may or may not have jumped slightly when he first spoke.

I pulled an innocent expression onto my face. “My leg?”

“Yeah. The one that got mauled at by a warg earlier. Honestly I’m surprised you’re still walking,” he fixed me with a concerned look. 

I smirked. “It’s fine, I’ve had worse. Besides, as soon as we get to the river, it won’t be a problem.”

He looked confused. “What do you mean it won’t be a problem?!”

I laughed. “Don’t you remember? Daughter of the sea god, can heal myself with water?”

Fili looked away. “I was more focused on other parts of your story than the specifics of your abilities,” he replied.

“Okay that’s fair,” I grinned. 

“Doesn’t it hurt though? Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

I tried to keep an optimistic face. “Don’t get me wrong it hurts, but firstly we were being attacked, then we were fighting back, then Thorin was injured, then we were kidnapped - sorry rescued - by giant freaking eagles, then Thorin was confronting Bilbo... honestly there were other things to worry about. I don’t like holding people back either, hence why I hid my limp and stayed quiet.”

Fili turned to me looking serious. “You wouldn’t be holding us back. Besides, even if you couldn’t do your water healing thingy, I’m sure Gandalf could heal you. He’s a wizard after all.”

I smiled. Of course then I had to go and trip over a rouge tree root. I stumbled on my bad leg. “Ahhh damn that hurt!” 

Fili rushed over to me. “Are you okay?”

I straightened, leaning against a tree. Thankfully the other dwarves were out of earshot. “Ughh yeah I'm fine.”

He insisted on walking slower with me, and I could tell that if he were taller, he would have hauled my arm over his shoulder and helped me to walk even though I kept telling him it’s fine.

Thankfully for both of us, we reached the river not long after. Many of the dwarves started guzzling and refilling water skins. I knelt down close to the river and rolled up my pant leg before removing the bandage carefully. I tried not to rip the scabs even though they would be healed soon.

“What the.... you’ve been walking around on _that_?!” Fili exclaimed, unfortunately drawing the attention of the rest of the group. 

I could see Oin approaching, wanting to help. He was the one who usually helped the sick and injured. I brushed them all off.

“Relax guys it’s fine. Watch and learn my friends.” I told them with a smirk.

I stood up and walked into the water, enjoying the tingling rush that came over me as the wound healed nicely. The refreshing energy from the river was also nice. Once my injury was healed, I walked out of the river and rolled down the pants again.

The dwarves looked shocked, and part of me thought it was funny. “Problem?” I asked sweetly.

For the most part they were quiet, simply shaking their heads with wide eyes and slack jaws.

“How does that work?” Balin asked. I wasn’t surprised it was him who asked first. Balin always seemed like the studious one of the group.

“Honestly I’m not entirely sure. I don’t really control that, it just happens. If I’m injured and then get in contact with a body of water, it heals without me having to think about it. The first time it happened I didn’t even notice.”

“So you can’t actively choose to heal yourself or not?” Asked Oin curiously.

“No, it just happens. I haven’t found anything it wouldn’t cure thankfully, but unfortunately I can’t heal other people with the water,” I replied.

“Seph would you mind going over your powers again?” Asked Gandalf surprisingly. I would’ve thought he would be the one to remember.

I smiled. “Sure thing. But don’t expect a demonstration for all of them!”

I sat down amongst the group where they had made camp. Bombur was passing bowls of stew around, and I gladly accepted, taking a few mouthfuls before getting on with the in-depth rundown.

“Okay so number one as I’m sure you all remember is that I can manipulate water. Obviously you’ve seen me do this in Rivendell, and when I helped Bilbo at the mountain pass and dried you all off. I used to think it was only water, but a few months ago I discovered through an unfortunate series of events that that power extends to things with water content, such as poison, even blood technically, but I hate doing it and swore to myself not to do so unless an emergency.

“Next up is breathing underwater. So I can swim underwater for as long as I like, the pressure doesn’t bother me, no matter how deep I manage to swim, and I’m able to breathe like a fish only without the gills. I can also create an air bubble around people so that others can breathe too.

“I can understand and communicate with horses and any sea creature. Again, this was kind of by accident that I discovered it. Horses are terrible gossips, as are the fish. 

“I can also control ships mentally. I’ve steered and rigged a huge square rig pirate ship before. Essentially I just have to focus, and all the subsequent parts of the boat will do what I need it to do. Don’t ask me to explain it; I couldn’t if I tried!

“As you lot have seen, there’s the whole healing myself thing that water does. It also gives me energy, so say for example I’ve been fighting for a really long time and I’m tired; if I touch water, it acts as an energy boost. It doesn’t last forever, and when I loose contact I become tired again, but in a pinch it’s a great help.

“These lasts ones are the difficult dangerous ones. So I can create ocean storms, making huge waves, strong currents and the like. I’ve only done this once, and if I’m honest it was completely exhausting.

“I can create hurricanes as well, which are very destructive and powerful but once again are difficult to control. 

“This last one is the nasty one. I can create earthquakes. I have only done this three times. The first time, it blew up a volcano and I was out for a week. The second time, I was angry and furious and upset. Three of my best friends had been killed in front of my during the last war. My anger took over and started an earthquake, although not as powerful as the first one. The last time was after I arrived in Rivendell. I had a really bad nightmare and triggered one in my sleep. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to loose control in my sleep again.”

Thankfully none of my audience were insensitive enough to ask bout the earthquakes deal. Instead I got landed with Ori.

“So if I threw a bucket of water at you, what would happen?” He asked in a really innocent voice. The others laughed heartily at that, and I giggled too.

“It would really depend,” I told him. “If I saw it coming, I could just stop the water midair before it hit me. Now whether I throw it back at whoever threw the water in the first place would depend on my mood,” I said grinning. “If I was asleep, or not paying attention other than giving me an energy boost, nothing would happen. I wouldn’t even get wet.”

“How come?” Kili asked.

“I’m naturally waterproof!” I exclaimed happily. “Obviously there are exceptions to this, and I can will myself to get wet if I’m trying to blend in, say for example when it’s raining and people don’t know what I can do.”

“I wish I was naturally waterproof,” Dori grumbled. 

I smiled at that. “Believe me, there are much cooler abilities to have than being waterproof. But I can understand where you’re coming from!”

“Do other demigods have powers? And do they have as many as you?” It was Bilbo who asked that one.

“Of course other demigods have powers. It sort of comes with the territory. Even if they don’t inherit powers per se, there will always be some kind of trait. As for the number of powers per person, honestly that’s just pot luck. I know some demigods with the same godly parent, yet they both inherited different skills to each other.”

The company continued to ask questions, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed making conversation with them, even if it was about the things and people that I missed.

~~~~~~~

We carried on through the woods for a few days without issue, however, all good things must come to an end. The advantage we had gained from the giant eagles was now lost, as the wargs and orcs were nearing our trail once again. We could hear the sound of wargs growling in the distance, so they were obviously close.

Bilbo was sent to climb up past the trees to the rockier areas and have a look around. Hopefully the scouts were far enough away to not notice him. Not long after, he came scurrying back down the path.

“How far is the orc pack?” Dwalin asked as Bilbo returned.

“Not far, maybe a league or so but that’s not all,” Bilbo started.

“Did they see you?” Thorin asked.

“Wha- no but-“ 

“Excellent, just like I said. Quiet as a mouse,” Gandalf said, causing the dwarves to chatter in agreement. 

“No will you _just_ listen,” Bilbo said loudly through the noise. “I am trying to tell you there’s something else out there.” 

I frowned, looking slowly around at our surroundings. 

“What form did it take? Like a bear?” Gandalf asked.

“Yes, but bigger. Much bigger. How did you know that?” Bilbo replied confused.

Gandalf said nothing.

“I say we double back-“ Dwalin started.

“Only to be run down by a pack of orcs,” said Thorin.

“There is a house where we might take refuge...” Gandalf suggested.

“Is he friend of foe?” Thorin asked.

“Neither. He will help us... or he will kill us,” Gandalf said gravely.

“Great! I love those odds,” I said sarcastically.

“What choice do we have?” Thorin asked Gandalf.

“None.” 

We ran through the trees, jumping over stray logs and rocks and following Gandalf. 

A piercing roar echoed, causing us to halt momentarily. I saw fear and apprehension on several faces. I couldn’t blame them for that though.

“Run! This way!” Gandalf shouted to us as he took off at speed again.

Whatever it was, it was getting closer. I could hear the thundering paws and snapping plants as the creature ran after us. We sprinted out of the tree line one or a grassy plane, on which the house could be seen. 

“Hurry! To the house!” Gandalf yelled.

Bombur was the surprising one though. He sprinted with renewed desperation, overtaking the company as he charged towards the house. Although he couldn’t control his momentum, as he slammed into the doors and bounced to the floor. 

I looked over my shoulder as the company rushed to the house. A gigantic black bear burst through the trees. It roared loudly as it spotted us, charging straight towards us and the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated!
> 
> What do you lot think so far? I’m open to suggestions and criticism; any feedback means a lot to me so I don’t mind criticism!
> 
> See you all in the next chapter.


	12. Beorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so part of this chapter is from the extended edition of the film (it might be a deleted scene I’m not sure, but it’s on YouTube) I thought it was funny so wanted to include it. 
> 
> I will probably be including more details from the extended editions in future.

“Quickly, open the doors!” I screamed at the dwarves. I drew Riptide and got ready to defend them if need be.

Thankfully Thorin got the doors open. We rushed inside and hurried to close them again. The bear’s head slammed against the huge door angrily, and we all strained to slam them closed. Eventually we managed it, all of us breathing heavily after the sprinting. 

“What is that?” Ori asked in disbelief.

“That is our host,” Gandalf said. “His name is Beorn. He’s a skin changer.”

The dwarves turned to look at Gandalf in shock.

“Sometimes he’s a huge black bear, sometimes he is a big strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with,” Gandalf said as he moved away from the door. “However, he is not overly fond of dwarves.”

I saw Oin and Gloin share glances at that last comment. 

The bear roared loudly. Ori, who had been spying through cracks in the door whispered “He’s leaving”.

“Get away from there!” Dori told him, pulling Ori away from the door. “It’s not natural, none of it. It’s obvious he’s under some dark spell.”

“Don’t be a fool,” Gandalf told him. “He’s under no enchantment but his own. Now get some sleep all of you. You’ll be safe here tonight,” he said as he walked away. I did however hear him whisper “I hope” afterwards. 

The skin changer made me thing of Frank, who could turn into any animal. “Cheer up Dori, it could be worse. I know a guy who can turn himself into any animal imaginable, including a dragon. At least Beorn can’t do that!” I gave him an amused look, but I don’t think that helped. Oh well, you can’t blame a girl for trying!

~~~~~~~

I slept relatively well. The giant bumblebees weren’t what I was expecting when I got up, but they weren’t bothering me. I wasn’t the first one up, but I also wasn’t the last. 

I took the opportunity to redo my hair, taking it out of the messy bun it was in and brushing it with my fingers before styling it in two dutch braids.

Outside I could hear someone chopping wood forcefully. I assumed it was Beorn, based on the apprehensive looks on the dwarves’ faces. They were talking amongst themselves about the man outside.

“Is there any reason we are hiding out in here?” I asked Thorin quietly.

He turned to me. “If you want to go first, be my guest. He doesn’t like dwarves. Even Gandalf is nervous.” he gestured grandly towards the door. 

I whistled. “Even gramps? What could possibly be that scary to make a wizard nervous?”

“Why do you call him that?” Thorin asked curiously.

I smiled. “It’s slang for ‘Grandpa’ where I come from. And obviously I call him that because he looks old. I don’t mean it as an insult though.”

I tuned back into the conversations going on around us.

“Well I say we should leg it and slip out the back way,” said Nori. 

Dwalin jumped in. “I’m not running from anyone. Beast or no,” he said, deadly serious. Nori looked like he was about to make a retort before Gandalf spoke.

“There’s no point in arguing. We cannot pass through without Beorn’s help. We’ll be hunted down, before we even get to the forest.”

Almost everyone had congregated in the same area near the door. Gandalf was pacing; that was new. Bilbo was the last one up. He walked in looking vaguely confused, but then again he _had_ just woken up. 

“Ah Bilbo, there you are,” Gandalf said distractedly.

“Now, this will require some delicate handling. We must tread very carefully. The last person who startled him was torn to shreds,” Gandalf said seriously.

We all exchanged worries glances.

“I will go first, and Bilbo will come with me.” 

Bilbo looked at Gandalf in surprise and horror at the same time. “Um, I-is this a good idea?” He asked apprehensively as he walked to the doorway.

“Yes. Now the rest of you just wait here and don’t come out until I give the signal,” Gandalf replied.

“Right, wait for the signal,” Bofur said from where he was spying out of the window at Beorn.

“Keep quiet. No sudden movement or loud noises and don’t overcrowd him,” Gandalf continued. “Only come out in pairs.” 

He glanced around at us as he turned to leave only to stop again. “Oh um actually Bombur, you count as two... so you should come out alone.”

I was surprised that Bombur wasn’t offended by that. Instead he simply nodded and took another bite of food.

“Remember, wait for the signal,” Gandalf whispered, before walking outside with Bilbo.

“What signal would that be?” Bofur asked, but they were already outside. 

“Well this’ll be fun!” I whispered with a grin.

~~~~~~~

(3rd person POV)

Gandalf cleared his throat and brushed back his hair as he and Bilbo walked down the path towards Beorn. The skin changer was 8 feet tall, with strong muscles and an intimidating demeanour.

“You’re nervous,” Bilbo said quietly.

Gandalf looked offended. “Nervous? Nonsense.” The look of apprehension returned as Beorn’s axe fell once more. 

“Morning,” Gandalf tried. 

He got no answer as Beorn split another log. 

“Good morning,” Gandalf said louder. Bilbo hid slightly behind Gandalf.

Turning his head slightly, Beorn asked “who are you?” His voice was deep and gravelly.

“I’m Gandalf, Gandalf the grey,” he said with a bow.

Beorn turned, swinging his axe to rest on the ground, keeping his hands on the end of the long handle. “Never heard of him,” he said.

“I’m a wizard,” Gandalf tried again. “Perhaps you’ve heard of my colleague Radagast the brown. He lives in the southern boarders of Mirkwood.”

“What do you want?” The skin-changer asked.

“Well er, simply to thank you for your hospitality. You may have noticed we took refuge in your um, lodgings here last night.” Gandalf gestured to the house behind him. 

Catching a glimpse of Bilbo, Beorn tensed and picked up his axe. “Who is this little fellow?”

“Ah well this would be Mr Baggins from the Shire,” Gandalf said.

“He’s not a dwarf is he?” Beorn asked suspiciously, gripping his axe tighter.

“Wha- No. he’s a hobbit. Good family, and unimpeachable reputation,” Gandalf said slowly, patting Bilbo on the back reassuringly.

“A halfling, and a wizard,” Beorn said considering. “How come you’re here?”

“Ah, well, we had a bit of a bad time of it. From goblins, up in the mountains,” Gandalf said.

“What did you go near goblins for? Stupid thing to do.” 

“You are absolutely right,” Gandalf said, emphasising the words with his hand. Unfortunately, Bofur took that to be the signal. 

“There it is! Go!” He whispered.

Dwalin and Balin walked out of the house, and politely introduced themselves, causing Beorn to tense and pick up his axe again.

Gandalf tried to cover it smoothly. “And I- I must confess er, several of our group are infact... dwarves,” he said hesitantly. 

“Do you call two, several?” Beorn asked while looking around slightly. 

Gandalf faltered slightly at that. “Well um, now you put it that way, th-th-there could be more than two,” he said quietly as he turned to look at the two dwarves behind him. 

“Go, go!”

“That’s us!”

Gandalf’s expression fell as Nori and Dori came out. He sighed. “Oh and here are some more of our happy troupe!”

“Do you call six, a troupe? What are you, a travelling circus?” Beorn accused.

Gandalf tried to laugh and shrug off the accusation. Unfortunately that was when Dori and Ori came out nervously, once again putting the brakes on Gandalf’s negotiation. 

“Dori and Ori, at your service,” Dori said shakily as they both bowed.

“I don’t want your service!” Beorn shouted to them.

Trying to salvage the situation Gandalf turned back to Beorn. “Absolutely understandable,” he said holding out a hand.

Once again Bofur took that as the signal, sending out Fili and Kili.

“Oh yes, Fili and Kili, quite forgotten,” Gandalf said before scuffling could be heard as four more exited the house.

“Oh and er, Nori, Bofur, Bifur... and Bombur...” Gandalf’s voice had lost all tact by the end, sort of giving up.

“Is that is? Are there any more?” Beorn demanded.

Thorin and Seph slowly came out of the doorway, facing Beorn unafraid.

~~~~~~~

(Seph’s POV)

I felt bad for Gandalf that his initial plan didn’t work, but then again I found the situation hilarious seeing him slowly loose his composure and diplomacy. I wasn’t afraid of Beorn, but I did agree with Gandalf. We needed Beorn’s help.

Thankfully once Gandalf managed to explain properly, Beorn decided to feed us at least before giving his final verdict. 

We all sat around his huge table, enjoying the delightful food. It was obvious that the dwarves were still nervous. They were missing their usual joviality at the table. 

“So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the defiler hunting you?” Beorn directed his question to Thorin.

“You know of Azog? How?” Thorin replied.

“My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the orcs came down from the north. The defiler killed most of our families. Some however, he enslaved. Not for work you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him.”

I saw the broken cuff around his wrist, and my heart went out to him immediately, even though I stayed quiet. 

“There are others like you?” Bilbo asked. I winced at that question.

“Once there were many,” Beorn said.

“And now?” Bilbo asked again, a little insensitive if you asked me.

“Now there is only one.” He turned around, changing the subject as he sat down. “You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn.”

“Before Durin’s day falls, yes,” Gandalf said. 

“You are running out of time,” Beorn said.

“Which is why we will go through Mirkwood.”

“A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance, between the orcs of Moria, and the Necromancer of Gundabard. I would not venture there, except in great need,” Beorn said slowly.

“We will take the elven road. Their paths are still safe,” said Gandalf. 

“Safe? The wood elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They are less wise and more dangerous... but it matters not,” said Beorn.

Thorin turned to face him. “What do you mean?” He whispered.

“These lands are crawling with orcs, and their numbers are growing. You are on foot. You’ll never reach the forest alive.” Beorn stood up and walked slowly. “I don’t like dwarves. They’re greedy, and blind to lives that they deem lesser than their own,” he picked up a small white mouse and held it gently. 

He was silent for a little while, making some of the company shift uncomfortably.

“But orcs I hate more. What do you need?” Beorn asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated!


	13. Mirkwood

Beorn gave us each a pony to ride, on the condition that once we reached Mirkwood, we would set them loose to return to him. That was fair enough to me. He also gave us food and supplies. The ponies were relatively chatty, and I had to concentrate to focus over all of their voices. 

We set off as soon as we had packed the supplies. Gandalf led, but we rode fast and hard across the fields. Thanks to the ponies, we managed to get to the edges of Mirkwood without any unsavoury encounters. 

Mirkwood certainly lived up to its name. Just from the outside it looked creepy. The branches had few leaves due to it being autumn, but the twisted trees didn’t let much light through. The bark seemed ashy, and ominous whistling sounds from the wind came echoing from the depths of the trees.

“Set the ponies loose!” Gandalf said as he dismounted and went over to the entrance to the forest. From what I could see, the ‘path’ as he called it, seemed overgrown and neglected. There were a few elven statues lining the entrance, but they were covered in vines and ivy crawlers. I could see arching structures marking the entrance to the path. 

“This forest feels... sick. Is there no way around it?” Bilbo asked.

“Not unless we go 200 miles north, or twice that distance south,” Gandalf said as he entered the beginnings of the trees.

I set about removing my bag from the pony (whose name was Elmer). 

_‘Farewell my lady’_ he neighed softly to me. I petted his muzzle gently. 

‘Thank you Elmer,’ I told him telepathically, before letting him trot away with the others.

“Wait, not my horse! I need it!” Gandalf came rushing from the trees towards Nori, who had been about to release the horse. 

“Where are you going? Why leave now?” I asked him.

“Trust me, I would not do this unless I had to.” Gandalf went over to Bilbo and exchanged a few quiet words. I didn’t care to eavesdrop on them. 

Gandalf walked over to his horse. “I’ll be waiting for you at the overlook before the slopes of Erebor. Keep that map and key safe.” 

He turned to Thorin. “Do not enter that mountain without me,” he said darkly. 

Gandalf mounted his horse. “This is not the Greenwood of old. There is a stream in the woods that carries a dark enchantment. Do not touch the water. Cross only by the stone bridge. The very air is thick with illusion, it will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray.”

“Lead us astray? What does that mean?” Bilbo asked quietly.

“You must stay on the path. Do not leave it. If you do, you’ll never find it again.” With that he rode away.

“Come on, we must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin’s day,” Thorin said as he walked onto the elven path. 

We all followed him past the creepy statues and into the woods. 

To start off with, the path was easy to follow. The paved stones created a straight track through the trees. However before long, the path became more irratic: twisting and turning irregularly as the woods got darker. 

Nori was leading, using a staff to scrape away the wet leaves to see which way the path went. 

Gandalf was right. The air in the forest felt heavy and confusing. I could hear rustling and snapping branches in the distance, which wasn’t at all encouraging.

After what felt like an eternity, I began to hear the trickling of water. We had been travelling through the creepy wood for several down by that point, and I was sick of it already. 

I reached out and felt the river with my senses. It felt... wrong. Soon enough the path led towards the river. 

“We found the bridge...” Nori called. He didn’t sound optimistic. 

As soo as I came around the corner, I understood why. The bridge was broken. A large gap was left from one side to the other. With my demigod strength and human size, I knew that I would be able to leap across if necessary. Unfortunately my companions didn’t have a hope in crossing in the same manner. 

“We could try and swim it?” Bofur suggested.

I was about to disagree, when Thorin spoke up. 

“Have you heard nothing Gandalf told us? There is a dark magic on this forest. The waters are enchanted,” he said loudly.

“Doesn’t look very enchanting to me...” Bofur said. 

I had to agree with him on that. The water looked stagnant, the current barely existent. The river was covered in a white/grey mist which eerily loomed over the dark water. It was disgusting, and honestly made me feel ill being close to it.

“We must find another way to cross,” Thorin said firmly. 

“These vines look strong enough,” Kili said, gesturing to the dark twisted plants and branches which stretched across the river a few feet from the remnants of the stone bridge.

I didn’t hold out much hope, but then again, they needed to cross somehow.

“Alright you lot, listen up,” I said. My voice went into leader mode. “Wait here for a moment before anyone of you tries to cross. I have longer legs and demigod strength, so I can leap across the bridge. None of you are to attempt the same thing. I will then be able to help you from the other side, catching you if you can’t quite make the last jump.”

I left no room for arguments, backing up a fair way along the path. I tensed before charging forwards along the path, springing as high and far as I could at the last second so that I crossed the distance. I rolled to absorb the impact before turning around and grinning at the shocked members of the company. 

“We send the lightest first,” Thorin said. Everyone turned to Bilbo, who just accepted his fate.

Bilbo carefully stepped out along the first branch, holding the vines tightly as the wood beneath him bounced slightly with his added weight. 

“This bits alright!” He called out to the dwarves behind him. “Can’t find any problems- Aaahhh!” He cried as he slipped and ended up tangled and hanging upside down. “Found one!” He called out. 

I tried not to laugh as his nonchalance. “You okay?” I asked him as he clambered back up and continued before slipping once again. He was staring straight into the water. 

“Hey, Bilbo?” He didn’t answer me. “Snap out of it!” I shouted. 

That seemed to do the trick. He shook his head slightly as if trying to get water out of his ears. Bilbo managed to get back upright and leap to where I was, grabbing my outstretched arm.

“Something is not right,” he wheezed out. 

“I know, don’t let it get into your head,” I told him.

He turned to speak to the others, only to see them already attempting to cross the same way he did. The dwarves were struggling and jumping between the vines and branches, however they were making surprisingly good progress. 

Until, Bombur fell towards the water. Thankfully I managed to pull all the water away from him, but it wasn’t easy to do. The enchanted water was fighting me, and I felt sick trying to manipulate it.

“Quickly! Get away from the water, all of you. I can’t hold it for long!” I shouted to them, pulling back the water around them as they all rushed to the other side. My arms were shaking and my breathing was laboured. 

“Seph, your necklace is glowing...” Bilbo said as the dwarves all rushed to the bank where we were standing. As soon as all members were away from the river, I released the water immediately. I also noticed the glow on the gemstone fading away. I guessed that Ulmo’s blessing as his champion had been trying to help me. 

I sat down on the bank, needing a moment. This was reminding me of the rivers of the underworld all over again.

“Are you okay?” Thorin asked quietly as I caught my breath.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just give me a minute. The enchanted water is having the wrong effect on me because of my powers. I’ll be okay the further away from it we get.” I stood up and started to walk away from the river.

“You sound like this has happened before,” Thorin said as we continued along the path.

I sighed. “Yeah, something similar happened a few months ago. There was an incident with a ‘magic’ river - although I wouldn’t call it that. Instead of giving me energy, it did the opposite, draining the energy from me. I could barely control it, I couldn’t breathe underwater... just thinking about it makes me feel ill.”

~~~~~~~

“Nori, why have we stopped?” Thorin asked slowly.

“Th-the path... it’s... gone,” Nori said. 

“Find it! Everybody spread out and find the path!” Thorin shouted. 

My mind kept echoing Gandalf’s final words to us on a repeating loop. Nevertheless, all of us searched for the path. 

Minutes blurred into hours. Time became insignificant, and my vision swayed in and out of focus at times. The shadows stretched and twisted. I thought I could see things in amongst the trees, but things would distort and disappear whenever I blinked. Words seemed to echo in my ears, but they were also muted, like I was listening through glass. 

“I need air...”

“My head, it’s swimming.”

“I don’t remember this place, none of this is familiar.”

“What hour is it.... I don’t even know what day it is...”

“Is there no end to this accursed forest?!”

I was dimly aware of these words going on, but my brain was too busy with the other voices. I could hear the echoing laughter or Kronos, circling around me. That wasn’t the only voice I could hear either. 

_“Foolish demigod!”_

_“-never again walk upon this earth!”_

_“Be honoured, little demigods. Not even the Olympians were worthy of my attention. You will be destroyed by Tartarus himself!”_

_“Twelve minutes...”_

_“So many curses have been levelled at you, Persephone Jackson...”_

_“You have spread so much death and suffering, let us repay you!”_

_“Do not press your luck - when your death comes, I promise it will be more painful than gorgon’s blood.”_

_“Give up...”_

_“Murderer...”_

The voices kept going, bringing back memories I wish I didn’t have. Guilt and despair washed over me as the words of so many spoke to me. I heard Gaia, Tartarus, Kronos, the arai. They cursed my existence and glared out from the shadows of the trees. 

Then I heard the voices of the dead. Bianca, Zoë, Beckendorf, Silena, Luke, Castor, Bob, Damasen, Jason, Leo, Piper. They blamed me, over and over. I cried with guilt and apologies, falling to my knees as I clutched my head, silently begging for it all to stop.

“PERSEPHONE JACKSON, SNAP OUT OF IT!” A powerful voice thundered in my eardrums. It sounded like a combination of Poseidon and Ulmo. Regardless, it did the trick. I blinked rapidly and looked around, only to find myself alone in the creepy forest. 

“Look for the webs, search up high,” that voice sounded like my mom. I bit back a sob at the sound of her voice, and stood up, wiping the tears from my face. 

“Come on Kelp head, nows not the time or place for a mental breakdown.” That was Nico and Thalia I could hear, gentle teasing evident despite the words. 

My head felt clearer than it had in ages, as if someone has dumped a cold bucket of seawater over me. My senses were alert once more, tingling with warning. 

I looked around, noticing that I was alone. The dwarves and Bilbo were nowhere to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	14. Spiders and Elves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes!

I cursed before deciding to climb the trees. If I was meant to look for webs up high, the branches weren’t a bad place to search. I climbed high easily, keeping my eyes open for anything dangerous. Before long, I came across the first strands of webbing. The spider silk was much thicker than I would expect, leading me to think of Arachne’s cavern under Rome. If my hunch was correct, there was at least one giant spider roaming around the forest. 

I followed the webs, soon coming across huge bands of woven strands stretched between the trees in almost all directions. The webs stretched between the levels of the trees, and I could make out clear tunnels in amongst the arching webs. Thankfully Annabeth wasn’t here, she would’ve had a panic attack for sure. I tried to avoid touching any webs, not wanting to alert the spider(s?) to my presence. Unfortunately that didn’t matter. 

I heard a scuttling noise behind me. Thankfully, my demigod reflexes allowed me to turn and dodge the venom jab that was aiming for my back. My suspicion was indeed correct, as I found a huge spider dangled and poised to strike at me. It wasn’t as large as Arachne was, but it was still much larger than me. The spider had gleaming dark eyes, and long hairy legs that gave me the creeps.

I drew Riptide in a flash and cleaved the spider in two down the middle. The monster didn’t have time to screech, as it’s two halves fell in opposite directions towards the ground far below. I heard two sickening thuds as the parts of the carcass smashed into the forest floor.

I followed the thickening webs towards the source, eventually coming across a whole hoard of the giant spiders heading in my direction. Evidently the vibrations of the spider I killed had drawn their attention, and they were headed to find the source of it. I managed to hide behind some thick branches and trunks as they passed. I wouldn’t have long to search for the others. I had no doubt the ugly spiders would be back soon. 

I rushed along the pathways of intertwining branches before coming across 13 dwarf-sized bundles suspended and wrapped in sticky webs. Some of them were squirming around too. 

I heard a branch snap to my left. I turned suddenly, lifting Riptide ready only to find Bilbo. He had some webs stuck to his clothes, and was holding his sword desperately. I gathered from this he too had an encounter with the spider treatment. 

“You good?” I asked him hurriedly.

“Yes I’m okay,” he told me, breathing hard.

I examined the terrain, seeing the layers of webs stretched beneath the dwarves like trampolines. “Cut them loose,” I told him as I quickly leapt into action. 

“Won’t the get hurt by the fall?” He asked.

“Nah,” I grinned as I sliced through a few of the webs holding several dwarves in the air. “The layers beneath will act as a cushion system. They’ll be fine.”

Bilbo accepted my argument and started to help me. We were almost done when I heard the spiders returning fast. 

“Hurry and follow them. I’ll catch up!” I called as I rushed towards the source of the snapping and snarling sounds.

Obviously I couldn’t stop all of the spiders from following the dwarves, but I thought I did a decent job of distraction and extermination. As soon as the first spider came into view, I began my assault. 

I was ruthless, leaping from branch to branch and stabbing the spiders expertly. I used the webs to my advantage, dancing through the treetops and getting the spiders tangled in their own webs for long enough so I could kill them. 

I could hear the dwarves fighting with their usual clamour in the distance. Evidently the vibrations when they fell through the layers of webs drew more of the spiders to them than I originally anticipated. With that in mind, I made an extra effort to finish up here as soon as I could. 

Spider legs went flying, blood spraying across the wood with every strike of my sword. Unfortunately more kept coming, taking me further away from my friends. I slashed through webs, hoping to disorientate the spiders somewhat, maybe need make them lose their balance. It seemed to be working, holding back some of them so I didn’t get overwhelmed. Before long only a few spiders remained. They were below where I was, so I jumped down, landing squarely on one. I stabbed down with Riptide, killing it straight away. The remaining spiders didn’t last much longer. 

I took a moment to breathe deeply, feeling tried after the fight. I noticed that I couldn’t hear the dwarves fighting anymore. That could be a good sign, but all the same I was still worried. My gut was nagging me to hurry up and get back to them. 

With surprising swiftness, I rushed back the way I had come. Soon I arrived at the place I had last seen the others. I looked down through the torn webs to where they would have landed, not seeing any of the dwarves or Bilbo. They could have moved away in the fight though, so I tried not to worry. I carefully climbed back down the trees, avoiding the sticky webs. 

I jumped the last few feet to the ground, landing silently. I followed the trail of destruction left by the company, soon seeing movement through the trees. It wasn’t what I was expecting to have encountered however.

I could see my friends. They seemed unharmed too, so that was a relief. The bad part was their company. The group was surrounded by elves, who were heavily armed, pointing weapons at them. I saw the elves confiscate weapons from everybody. They were methodical, taking more daggers from all of Fili’s hidden spots.

I identified the leader of the elves. He was tall, platinum blonde, and as usual he was stunningly attractive. Why did elves have to be so beautiful?! The leader had Thorin’s sword and was questioning said dwarf harshly. I could tell that I needed to make a move, so I went with one of my favourite plans: act first and regret the consequences later.

I reached out to any water in the trees, calling it forward. Similar to the enchanted river, the water was affecting me badly, but I tried to ignore it. I silently moved closer before making my entrance. I was pleasantly surprised that none of the elves had noticed me, considering they have heightened awareness. 

I jumped behind the leader, drawing Riptide up and under his neck. At the same time, I forced the nasty water to get denser and take the shape of swords mirroring Riptide, pointing them at the other elves too. 

My arrival caused the dwarves to exclaim happily. 

“Seph! Where have you been?” Fili and Thorin asked in unison. 

“Distracting the other spiders from you lot. I took care of it: they’re all dead. Now then!” I called loudly to the elves. “All of you put your weapons down, or Blondie here gets it!” I had one hand outstretched, controlling the water, I noticed it starting to shake with effort. “You too Blondie. The water swords can cut your friends too, trust me.” (If I unleash them with a high enough pressure.)

The blonde elf glared at me murderously before his grip on Thorin’s sword loosened. The other elves began to follow suite reluctantly. Even the red haired one who looked like she wanted to stab me with her daggers. 

My breathing was beginning to get difficult as the nasty magic water continued to fight and affect me. I knew without looking that my necklace was glowing again. I wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer. Why couldn’t this forest have normal water instead? I would’ve been fine if not for the stupid enchanted water.

“Seph, what’s wrong?” Thorin asked as he noticed my condition. 

“Enchanted water, same as the river... bad side effects on me especially...” I ground out between gritted teeth. 

Regrettably, the nasty water was beginning to effect my reflexes too. When I was turned to face Thorin, Blondie slammed a hand into the back of my neck. 

The world slipped to black. 

~~~~~~~

(Legolas’s POV)

I noticed the human was loosing focus. Her outstretched arm was shaking, her speech was slowing, breathing quickening. I took the moment of distraction when she was turned away from me, mindful of the blade she had under my chin. I slammed my left hand into the base of her skull, swiftly knocking her out.

The girl collapsed towards Oakenshield, who lurched to catch her as her knees gave way. The dwarf picked her easily, and held her with surprising gentleness. The strange bronze sword slipped from her grip, and the ‘water swords’ which had been pointed threateningly at my kin lost their form and fell to the ground with a splash. 

The dwarves were angry about that, shouting and glaring at me as soon as she was knocked out. The elves all reclaimed their weapons, keeping the rabble at bay once more. 

I was very surprised that a human had managed to catch all of us unaware. Not only that, how had she controlled water like that? 

_”Are you alright, Legolas?”_ Tauriel asked immediately.

 _”Fine, the human didn’t have the chance to strike,”_ I replied coldly. 

“One of you explain,” I said harshly to the dwarves. I drew a blade and pointed it at the dwarves.

“What how she was able to catch you off guard? It’s because you elves are stupid!” The young blonde dwarf yelled fiercely. Many of the dwarves made sounds of agreement.

The other elves tightened their grips on their weapons at the insult, despite it being petty.

I glared at him, before picking up the fallen bronze sword and admiring it briefly. Sighing darkly, I returned my attention to the group before me. 

“How did she do that with the water?” I growled out, fixing me sight on Oakenshield and the girl. 

The dwarves stubbornly said nothing. Their expressions darkened, and Oakenshield subtly tightened his grip on the unconscious girl.

I studied her for a moment. She had long, black hair with a grey streak down one side of her head. She was small, but surprisingly lean and muscular, with faded scars evident on the tanned skin of her arms.

 _”Move out!_ I called loudly. _”Saevel, carry the girl,” I said to the dark haired elf nearest to me._

_He stepped towards Oakenshield and the girl. The dwarf narrowed his eyes and held the girl closer to his chest. I rolled my eyes at his protectiveness._

_“If we were going to kill her, I’d have done it by now,” I told him with a smirk. “You’ll slow us down if you carry her. Let Saevel do it.” I left no room for arguments as Saevel plucked the girl from Oakenshield’s arms._

_“Get moving you lot!” I shouted to the dwarves as we began the short trip back to the elven halls. I took up the rear, still confused about the girl and what just happened. A part of me couldn’t help glancing at her every now and then from where she lay in Saevel’s arms. (Saevel hadn’t given her the indignity of slinging her over his shoulder.)_

_We marched the dwarves across the bridge and through the gates. I paused and turned around, thinking I could sense something behind me, but I saw nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading so far! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)


	15. The Woodland Realm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes!

(Seph’s POV)

I woke up in a cell with a headache. I groaned slightly and sat up slowly, taking in my current place of residence. It was gloomy inside the stone cell, like a natural cave or something. The bars that made up the door looked elegant yet strong, and I could see similar cells on the other side of them. 

“Ughh great! I pulled a Jason,” I said gloomily to myself as I stood up and walked over towards the barred door. 

“Glad to see you’re awake lass. What is ‘pulling a Jason’?” It was Dwalin who said all that. He was in the cell nearest to mine. 

“‘Pulling a Jason’ is my way of referring to begins knocked out via head wound. My cousin Jason had a habit of being the one to be knocked out, despite how powerful he was.” I smiled at the memory, looking down at my hands. “It seems I’m now taking up his mantle.”

“How are you feeling Seph?” Balin asked gently. 

I smirked. “My head feels like it was trampled by the Minotaur, but otherwise I’m okay. Damned enchanted water. I swear Blondie would never have gotten a hit on me if it weren’t for that... sorry for the failed rescue attempt.” 

“Well you did better than us,” Fili piped up. 

“How long have I been asleep?” I asked quietly. 

“It’s difficult to tell how long, but definitely a day or so,” Dwalin told me.

“A day? I’ve been passed out for a day? Holy Hades, I guess that water was worse than I thought...” 

I looked around, counting all the dwarves I could see. I couldn’t see Bilbo. 

“Where’s Bilbo?” I whispered to Dwalin, not wanting to alert the elven guard nearby.

“He wasn’t with us when the elves got us. I reckon he’s alright though. Resourceful fellow,” he whispered back. 

I hummed in agreement. Bilbo was smart, and quiet. I was sure he would be fine. 

I looked down at myself, suddenly noticing my lack of armour. Even though it was nothing heavy duty, I had quite liked it. Obviously I could happily survive without it given all my past experiences, but still. It had been a gift from Lord Elrond. Thankfully my necklace was still around my neck. I could also feel Riptide in my pocket again, which was comforting. I looked around the cell, also noticing my leather trench coat bundled next to where I had been lying.

“What is it with these elves? They knock me out, and then they undress me?!” That caused some of my fellow prisoners to choke and laugh. “When did they decide to take my armour, and why? It wasn’t a weapon or anything.” I complained loudly, not caring of the consequences. If they were going to kill me, they would have done it by now.

I heard a hearty laugh from Fili. “At least the bash to your head didn’t affect your unapologetic nature!” He called to me. “They took the armour not long after Thorin came back from speaking to Thranduil,” he told me.

“Who’s ‘Thranduil’?” I asked.

“A spineless bastard!” Thorin spat angrily. 

~~~~~~~

Although we were prisoners, at least we were fed. Not particularly well, but enough to keep us going. I guessed that we had been down here for a few days easily, based on the number of ‘meals’ and how long between each one. Thankfully I didn’t have a huge appetite anyway: it was still recovering from Tartarus. 

Being in cells was wrecking havoc upon my ADHD though. There was absolutely nothing for me to do other than drum my fingers, spin Riptide’s pen around my hands and sleep. I had had some conversations with the dwarves, but they all seemed grumpy the longer we were in the cells. It was understandable of course, but still. I needed to move around!

It was late, but I couldn’t sleep: too much energy. I opted to do sit-ups and push-ups, trying to ignore the sounds of singing and partying from up above in the elven halls. Those activities were the best I could manage in the confined space I had been allotted.

From my cell, I could see down to where Kili was flirting with the red headed elf from the other day. It was obvious that the feeling was mutual, based on the soft tone in her voice. I rolled my eyes at the couple before sitting down by the barred door. 

I saw the shadows shift outside my cell door. I looked up, only to see Blondie glaring down at the two lovebirds. I was no child of Aphrodite, but he obviously had feelings for the elf maiden.

“You know, jealousy can kill, Blondie,” I said quietly to him. 

He turned harshly to look down at me. “I’m not jealous,” he said coldly. 

“In that case you’re lying to yourself,” I said with a smirk. “In any case, I meant what I said about jealousy killing. It leads to envy and hate and so on. You’re an elf, you’ve probably been around for centuries. I hardly expect that you need me to lecture you on the possibilities...” I thought I struck a nerve. 

Blondie was dangerously quiet, his eyes narrowed down at me. “What would you know?” 

I sighed, thinking of Luke. “Enough,” I said softly. I stretched my arms above my head, expecting the conversation to be over. Instead I head slightly scuffling as Blondie sat down next to my door, leaning against the stone wall. I said nothing, but gave him a questioning look. 

“What does that mark mean?” He asked surprisingly softly. 

I glanced down at my now exposed SPQR tatoo. “You mean this?” I asked as I stuck my arm through the bars.

Blondie nodded once as he looked at it curiously. “Yes.”

“It’s nothing that you lot would understand,” I said, not meaning to be harsh. 

“Enlightened me,” he almost demanded. 

“Why? Look if you’re being rude because of the whole ‘threatening you at sword point’ thing, don’t take it personally. It was a means to an end, which would have worked if not for the stupid enchanted water,” I pulled my arm back through the bars. 

“Why are you down here and not with the party upstairs?” I asked, equally as demanding. I wanted him to see he was being rude. I didn’t expect him to actually grace me with a response.

“I followed Tauriel,” he said lowly. 

“I’m assuming that’s the chick Kili’s flirting with? The one you’re _definitely_ not jealous over?” 

He didn’t respond to that one. I chuckled. “Well that’s a yes,” I said under my breath. “It’s from a legion that I fought with and commanded for a brief period of time. The tattoo I mean,” I told him quietly. I didn’t see the harm in telling him. 

“What does it mean?” He asked, intrigued. 

I sighed. “The letters stand for ‘Senatus Populsque Romanus’. The trident is because of my command over water (amongst other meanings). The line was my first act of service in the battle which raised me to praetor of the legion.” I began to tap my fingers against my knee.

“Why can you control water? I’ve never heard of a human with that ability,” he said as he turned to look me in the eyes.

I huffed. “I think that’s enough questions for one night Blondie. Besides, what benefit would knowing do? I’m currently your prisoner, in case you magically forgot.”

“Don’t call me ‘Blondie’,” he said grumpily as he stood up. 

I stood too, leaning on the bars. “What would you prefer? Moody?” I grinned at his expression. 

“Legolas,” he said. I guessed that was his actual name. 

“Well then Legolas, I’m Persephone, but I go by Seph.” 

~~~~~~~

“I’d wager the sun is on the rise,” Balin called to us. 

“We’re never gonna reach the mountain are we.” Ori said mournfully, echoing the thoughts of most of the company. 

I heard footsteps pattering down the steps outside our cells. “Not stuck in here you’re not,” came Bilbo’s voice as he appeared holding the keys. 

His arrival caused many of the dwarves to exclaim happily, calling his name and the like as he began unlocking cells. 

“Shhh! There are guards nearby,” he whispered forcefully. The louder members of the company promptly shut up at that. 

I muttered a quiet thank you and patted the hobbit on the back as he opened my cell door. I picked up my coat and put in back on smoothly. Then I walked over to the others of the group, slipping a hand into my pocket in case I needed my sword. 

Bilbo led us quietly down the stone steps, further and further through the cave-like dungeons of the woodland realm. I heard several sceptical comments from the dwarves, but I trusted Bilbo’s judgement. 

We snuck carefully down the last set of stairs, entering a large cellar. There were huge barrels stacked in a pile in the centre of the room as well many along the walls. I could see huge shelves loaded with wine bottles practically from floor to ceiling. There was a table with three snoring elves and empty glasses and bottles. Evidently they had had a good evening. I snickered slightly at the sight of elves - who were usually so ethereal- passed out drunk. 

“This way,” Bilbo whispered as one of the elves snored particularly loud.

“You’re supposed to be leading us out, not further in!” Bofur whispered angrily. 

“I know what I’m doing!” Bilbo replied. 

“Shhh!” Someone hissed to t he bickering pair. 

Bilbo led us to the stack of empty barrels. “Everyone climb into the barrels, quickly,” he whispered.

“Are you mad?! They’ll find us,” Dwalin whispered harshly.

“No they won’t, I promise you they won’t. Please, _please_ you must trust me,” Bilbo whispered earnestly. 

I noticed the lever system and the lines in the floor. I could also sense a fast flowing current of water beneath our feet. “The river...” I whispered before clapping Bilbo on the shoulder. 

Bilbo looked at Thorin, who after a moment of consideration whispered “do as he says!” The dwarves climbed into the barrels. 

“You two Bilbo, I can handle this,” I told him. The hobbit looked like he wanted to protest. I held up a hand to stop him, ushering him to the last barrel. “I don’t need the barrel, you do.” I shot him a meaningful look that left no room for arguments.

“What now?” Bofur asked as Bilbo climbed in. The others popped their heads out to look at me too. 

I grinned wickedly. “Hold your breath and try not to scream!”

I pulled the lever, causing the floor under the barrels to tilt like a trapdoor slide thing. As the first barrels began to roll, I charged after them. I jumped over and dropped to slide along the smooth wood right behind the last barrel so that the trapdoor wouldn’t close without me. We rolled (slid in my case) off the wooden slope and into the waters below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated:)
> 
> So I really want to hear people’s thoughts on this fic so far. I want to know if there’s things people want me to improve, things to include in future chapters of the story, all of that kinda stuff! I’m open to suggestions rn, so let me hear any ideas.
> 
> Please, please drop a comment below, it would mean the absolute world to me! It doesn’t have to be long or anything, a small thing is great too!
> 
> Main questions for you readers:   
> • Should I kill Thorin, Fili and Kili in the battle of five armies?  
> • Should I include an enemy from Greek Mythology sent to kill Seph (curtesy of Gaia/Tartarus)?


	16. Barrel Riders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes:)

The barrels landed with impressive splashes, along with some colourful cursing from Gloin and Dwalin. I simply enjoyed the rush that the cold water gave me as I plunged under the surface. The others managed to get their barrels upright and balanced in the water, although they all complained bitterly about the cold water. I tried not to grin; the temperature was just fine to me! 

“Well done Master Baggins,” Thorin said. 

Bilbo nodded wordlessly, clinging desperately to the rim of his barrel. I expect the cold was a shock for him. 

“Alright everyone, hold onto your barrels! The current is strong in this part of the river,” I told them as we drifted quickly towards the light at end of the cavern.

We tumbled out of the darkness down the first small waterfall. The others ended up gasping and spluttering from swallowing water. The river was fast and turbulent. Large grey rocks lined the banks and stuck out from the water. It was fairly safe to assume that we were in the rapids. The river twisted down through the valley, in between rocks and trees.

I kept my head above the surface to keep an eye on my friends, allowing the current to drag me along round the sharp corners. I made sure none of the barrels were slammed too hard against the rocks, using the water to cushion any bashes. 

The sounds of a horn echoed around us, coming from upstream. I guessed that our absence from the dungeons had been noted. Damn, I had hoped we would have a longer head start. Then again, part of me was surprised none of the guards noticed as soon as we went to the cellars...

The river swept us around another few bends before revealing a large stone wall built across the river with a sluice gate. Unfortunately the gate was lined with elven guards, who had heard the call of the horn. One of them pulled a lever which closed metal grates across our path. The other elves immediately drew swords at our appearance. 

“NO!” Thorin roared as his barrel slammed into the metal bars. The others were close behind him. I drew Riptide and was about to get out of the water. 

Suddenly one of the elven guards fell. There was a huge arrow embedded in the elf’s back, managing to pierce the strong armour. That didn’t bode well for us. 

Orcs leapt onto the wall and began to descend from higher up in the valley. Immediately I felt a strong tugging in my gut as I threw my arms towards the orcs, throwing a huge wave of water at the monsters. I succeeded in pushing them back, with angry snarls. The elven guards drew their attention away from us and onto the orcs. Some had begun attacking the dwarves. Bilbo had drawn his sword and managed to stab one in the neck. The others fought back bare-handed. I used the river to propel me upwards onto the stone wall. I began to kill orcs with Riptide, helping to draw the attacks away from my friends. 

The dwarves took up several fallen weapons from the orcs, working together to kill them. They tossed the few blades they had between themselves, executing some of the best teamwork I had seen. 

Kili took the opportunity to jump out of his barrel onto the stone wall. He scampered up the steps and ran to the lever controlling the gate. He didn’t notice the orc pointing an arrow at him. Thankfully I did, and I managed to deflect the arrow before it could hit him. Kili pulled the lever and jumped off the bridge back into his barrel. 

“Go!” I shouted to them. “I’ll be right behind you, go!”

The dwarves let go of the stone walls and allowed themselves to be swept off by the current once more.

Of course it was at that moment other elves from the woodland realm appeared. No doubt they were here to recapture us, considering Legolas and Tauriel were among them. The elves began to fight and kill the orcs who had yet to follow the dwarves downstream. I shot Legolas a cheeky wave with my sword before leaping off the their side of the wall into the water. 

I swam fast, manipulating the current to speed me along to the others. Orcs were all along the valley in hot pursuit of the dwarves. Arrows were being fired as the barrels plunged through the rapids. Thankfully none of my friends had been shot. 

Once I reached the barrels, I made the water beneath my feet support my weight like a surfboard. I surfed over the surface of the rapids, slicing through orcs and defending the dwarves who didn’t have a weapon. 

Legolas and Tauriel were in hot pursuit of us. They ran down the valley with their unnatural elven grace, killing orcs at every turn. If I wasn’t so busy fighting, I would have taken the time to admire their skills. 

Thorin impaled an orc to a tree, catching the weapon dropped by said orc. He threw it upstream to Dwalin, who threw it to Nori, to Fili, who killed another orc preparing to attack. I saw Dawlin head-butt another orc, claiming his axe.

Further downstream, orcs were balanced on a log, ready to jump onto the barrels. 

“Cut the log!” Thorin shouted to the others. They each had a swing at the log as they passed underneath, sending the orcs tumbling as the log gave way. 

I used my powers to speed down in front of all the dwarves. Thorin had tossed his scavenged weapon to Kili, and was currently defenceless, so I shouted to him “Thorin!” He turned to me in time to catch Riptide as I tossed my sword to him. 

“Don’t worry about losing it, it’ll come back to me!” I shouted over the roar of the water. He nodded and continued his attack. 

I turned to face upstream, spreading my arms and calling even more of the water under my command. The tugging in my gut increased as I formed two giant fists of water. They mimicked my own hands: throwing and crushing orcs, slapping orcs away from the others, and generally causing chaos. 

Bombur had a particular entertaining moment. His barrel was thrown out of the river and proceeded to bounce and roll alongside the river banks. The barrel succeeded in knocking over many orcs like bowling pins. Once the bouncing stopped, he continued to fight, bursting his limbs out through the shredded wood and using the metal shell of the by now ruined barrel to his advantage. Once he had killed the orcs in his immediate area, he leapt back into the river to an empty barrel.

I was aware of Legolas behind me using the heads of the dwarves as stepping stones. He was leaping and landing on their heads while shooting orcs down, doing an impressive job too. From what I could hear, the others were doing just fine too: yelling with aggression and satisfaction as orcs were killed. (Although I felt bad for those being used as temporary solid ground for the elf.

I pulled my hands together before thrusting them out and away with a shout. The water in the river upstream shot out to both sides in huge 20-foot waves, knocking back many of the remaining orcs and sweeping them away. I turned back downstream and surfed towards the barrels again.

Unfortunately; the big ugly orc leader hadn’t been killed. The brute had somehow managed to evade the elven warriors too, following us down the valley. I didn’t see him as he drew back his bow and launched a nasty-looking arrow towards me. It was only because of the moving current that the arrow didn’t impale me in the middle of my back. 

I screamed as the arrow pierced my right shoulder deeply. The sudden pain made me lose my fine control in my powers. The water beneath my feet gave way and I crashed under the surface. The water number the pain slightly, but for some reason it still hurt badly. Then again, the arrow _was_ still stuck in my body. 

I came to the surface and threw one last wave at the last few orcs, breathing heavily through the pain. I let the current sweep me along to catch up with the others. I saw Legolas killing the last few orcs, and Thorin throwing Riptide to impale the orc sneaking up behind the elf. 

Legolas turned, seeing us continue to be carried away by the river. Thorin held his gaze with the elf for a brief moment before his barrel turned away. What I didn’t notice was the worried look that Legolas shot my way upon seeing the arrow in my back. 

I closed my eyes and willed the water to speed up and take us away from the woodland realm. I stayed behind the others, making sure that nothing tried to follow us in the water.

~~~~~~~

The river had widened and the current slowed. The rapids were left far upstream behind us. I gently pushed the barrels to shore with the water before getting out myself. As soon as I left the water, two things happened. The pain from the arrow increased tenfold, and the others noticed the arrow.

“Seph, what happened?”

“You have an arrow in your back!”

Various outbursts like that came from Bilbo and Fili among others. I tried to embody my usual sarcastic self. 

“There is?!” Cue the fake gasp. “Can someone pull it out? I can’t reach.” I tried to grin and blow off the concern as I sat on one of the rocks. 

Bofur sighed and came over to me. “Brace yourself,” he said before swiftly ripping the arrow out. 

I barely managed to hold back my cry of pain, scrunching up my face and clenching my fists until they where white. I immediately staggered over to the river, submerging the wound in the cold water by lying on my back. 

Only to sit up and turn to try and look at the wound in confusion. It didn’t hurt as much in the water, but for some reason, the dammed thing wouldn’t heal. 

“Shit,” I muttered, pulling a roll of bandages out of my pocket with shaking hands and removing my coat.

“What’s wrong?” Fili aksed, coming closer. 

“It won’t heal,” I said between gritted teeth. I pulled my arm out of the short sleeve and up through the open neck to expose the wound to the air. 

“Gimme a hand with this?” I asked him, l holding out the bandages. 

Fili quickly took the roll and started tightly wrapping the wound. “It doesn’t look good...” he said quietly. 

“I know. I’ll sort it out, don’t worry,” I replied softly. 

As soon as he was done, I replaced my arm into the sleeve correctly. Despite being tired, I got up and dried off all the dwarves and Bilbo with my powers. 

That was when the human archer appeared. He was aiming for Ori, but Dwalin defended with a piece of driftwood. Kili picked up a stone to throw at the archer, but the man shot the stone out of Kili’s hand. 

“Do that again, and you’re dead,” the archer said lowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated:)
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who commented about the Kili, Fili, Thorin fate, and the question about adding monsters into the battle of five armies from Greek mythology. 
> 
> If anyone else wants to have their say, please feel free! I’m not writing that part of the story for a while (I write and update chapters daily) so there’s still plenty of time!


	17. Negotiation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes :)

The bowman was tall and had shoulder-length dark hair. He had an arrow notched and ready, pointed at whoever moved. Which in this case was Balin.

“Err, excuse me, but you’re from lake town I presume?” Balin stepped forwards, keeping his arms up when the bowman pointed the arrow at him. “That barge over there... it wouldn’t be available for hire by any chance?”

The man relaxed his posture and his bow, giving us all a considering glance. “Help me with those barrels,” he said decisively, not answering Balin’s question. 

Thorin looked untrustingly at the bowman. The others had similar apprehension plastered on their faces. 

“Play nice - this could work,” I whispered to Thorin as I subtly used the water to push the barrels to the dock next to the barge.

I walked over and slowly dragged one out of the water and onto the stone platform. It was harder than I cared to admit with my injury. I had to favour my right arm heavily, doing most of the work with my left arm. I also tried to hide a grimace as I moved my right arm. I didn’t need pity. The others followed my lead, each dragging a barrel. 

We all stepped away as the man started to move the barrels onto his barge. 

“What makes you think I would help you?” He asked mid-task. 

Balin was our elected negotiator in this instance. “Those boots have seen better days, so has that coat,” Balin said, gesturing towards the man. “I expect you’ve got hungry mouths to feed. How many children?” he continued. 

“A boy and two girls,” the man said as he continued moving the barrels. 

“And your wife, I imagine she’s a beauty,” Balin said, smiling.

As soon as the man froze, I winced. This was dangerous territory. 

“Aye. She was,” the man said softly. 

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Balin started apologising. 

“Ah come on, enough of the niceties,” Dwalin half-muttered.

“What’s your hurry?” The man called to the Dwarf.

“What’s it to you?” Dwalin replied guardedly.

The man stepped off the boat and towards Balin. “I would like to know who you are. And what you’re doing in these lands,” he said.

“We are but simple merchants from the Blue Mountains, journeying to see our kin in the Iron Hills,” Balin said seamlessly.

The man gave me a look. “And you? I doubt you share kin with these dwarves,” he said.

“No, quite right! However I owe these dwarves a debt, and am repaying it currently.” I smiled innocently at the man, hoping to fool him well enough. He seemed to accept my argument mostly. 

“Simple merchants, you say?” The man gave an appraising once over to the company. 

Thorin stepped forwards. “We need food, supplies, weapons. Can you help us?” He asked.

The man stopped and looked at the barrels, touching the notches and marks from the orc attack. “I know where these barrels came from. I don’t know what business you had with the elves, but I doubt it ended well.”

I wanted to butt in and say that the damage was from orcs, but then again that probably wouldn’t help him to agree. 

“No one enters or leaves lake town without the leave of the master; his wealth depends on trade with the woodland realm. The master of Esgaroth would have you all in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil.” The man turned and finished loading the last few barrels onto the deck. 

We all exchanged worried glances. The man picked up his longbow and quiver of arrows, taking them onto the barge too. 

“I’ll wager there are ways to get into that town unseen,” Balin said loudly.

“Yes. But for that, you would need a smuggler,” the man said. He turned around, coming face to face with Balin.

“For which we would pay double,” Balin said decisively. 

The man straightened and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He huffed out a short breath before negotiating prices with Balin and Thorin. 

Once they had settled on a price, we piled onto the boat and let the man do his work. Not long after, we were underway. 

I swayed slightly and sat down on the deck. I was coming to the conclusion that the arrow was poisoned, although why I couldn’t heal it was a different story. I grimaced as I slowly lifted my right arm over the lower part of the hull and trailed the hand into the cold water. The pain lessened, but I still felt lightheaded. This was bad. Moving my arm was becoming more and more difficult. If I couldn’t heal it, there was no way I’d be able to fight off the dragon in the mountain. Were it my left arm, I would just shut up and deal with it, but this was my sword arm. Despite my contact with water, the pain was slowly growing worse.

I closed my eyes and closed my left hand around my necklace. Mentally, I pictured the sea back home. I remembered Atlantis, and my father. I thought of the exhilaration being in the ocean gave me, focused on all the happy memories the ocean brought me. 

“Please, Lord Ulmo. Help me,” I whispered softly. 

~~~~~~~

(Legolas’ POV)

The orc growled slightly as me father paced around us. 

“You were tracking a company of 13 dwarves and a human. Why?” I asked fiercely as I pressed my knife closer to his throat.

“Not anymore. The female, the water-manipulator. We was stuck with a Morgul shaft. The poison’s in her blood. She’ll be choking on it soon,” he chuckled cruelly and reared up. I pulled him back into place firmly. Something was nagging at me. Seph was dying, yet it bothered me greatly and I didn’t know why. 

“Answer the question, filth!” Tauriel hissed, twirling her daggers expertly.

 _”I don’t answer to filthy she-elves!”_ the orc hissed. 

“You like killing things orc? You like death? Then let me give it to you!” She lunged forward angrily.

 _”Halt!”_ Father shouted to her. She stopped reluctantly. _”Tauriel! Leave.”_

She straightened and walked out, with a final glance towards me and the orc. 

“I care not for one dead human. Answer the question. You have nothing to fear; tell us what you know, and I will set you free,” father told the orc.

“You had orders to kill. Why? And what is Thorin Oakenshield to you?” I asked.

“The dwarf runt will never be king,” the orc spat.

“King? There is no king under the mountain, nor will there ever be. None would dare enter Erebor while the dragon lives,” I said firmly.

“You know nothing. Your world will burn,” he growled out.

“What are you talking about? Speak!” I demanded.

The orc growled once more. “The time has come again. My master, serves the One,” he said.

I noticed my father pause slightly at that.

“Do you understand now, elfling? Death is upon you. The flames of war are upon you,” the orc said before he began to laugh cruelly. 

Thranduil threw his blade swiftly at mine, pressing the blade through the orcs neck. I was left holding the severed head. “Why did you do that? You promised to set him free,” I said loudly as the orc’s body fell, twitching.

“And I did. I freed his wretched head from his miserable shoulders.” He planted a foot firmly on the twitching body with a crunch.

“There was more the orc could tell us,” I said.

“There was nothing more he could tell me.” He turned and started to move away. I followed.

“What did he mean by the flames of war?” I asked.

“It means they intend to unleash a weapon so great it will destroy all before it,” my father replied, sheathing his blade. “I want the watches doubled on our boarders. All roads, all rivers; nothing moves but if I hear of it. No one enters this kingdom, and no one leaves it.” He walked away.

I made the trip to the main gates. _”Shut the gates, by order of the king, no one leaves,”_ I called out to the guards.

They hesitated. _”what about Tauriel?”_ One called out to me as I turned to go back. I stopped walking. 

_”What about her?”_ I asked back.

 _”She went out into the forest, armed with a bow and her blades. She has not returned,”_ the same guard said.

I sighed. Then I heard a deep, incredible voice echoing through my skull. _**”You must save my champion. You and Tauriel, are her only hope.”**_

~~~~~~~

I followed the river swiftly until I came across Tauriel. She turned drawing her bow, until she saw it was me. 

“I thought you were an orc!” She called.

“If I were an orc, you’d be dead!” I replied with a smirk. “Tauriel, you can’t hunt an orc pack on your own.” I told her disapprovingly as I walked over to her.

“But I’m not on my own,” she replied breezily. 

“You knew I would come. The king is angry Tauriel. For 600 years he has protected you, favoured you. You betrayed his orders and broke his trust. Come back with me, and he will forgive you.” I said.

“I won’t. If I return, I will not forgive myself. The king has never let orcs roam our lands. Yet he allows this orc pack to invade our boarders and kill our prisoners.”

“It is not our fight,” I said.

“It is our fight. It will not end here. With every victory this evil will grow. If your father has his way, we will do nothing. We will hide behind our walls, live our lives away from the light, and let darkness descend. Are we not part of this world? Tell me _mellon_ , when did we let evil grow stronger than us?” She had that determined look about her face. There was something else though. 

I decided to go out on a limb. The voice from earlier was still in the forefront of my mind. “Did you hear a voice calling you?” I asked hesitantly. 

Her eyes lit up with recognition and surprise. “Yes... I’m assuming you heard it too,” she said. 

I nodded and turned to face the lake. “He said to save his champion. That we were her only hope.”

“That’s what I heard as well...” she said softly.

”I don’t know who the voice is, but they don’t seem the type to interfere lightly. The power I felt from that brief moment of mental contact was incredible.”

”I agree. Whoever they are, they must have a good reason. I just wonder who would need saving so badly as to attract the attention of such a powerful being...” Tauriel trailed off. I agreed with her pondering too. Something strange was afoot.

“We should hurry. Those orcs are still on the hunt,” I said. We set off quickly following the orc pack’s trail towards the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated:)
> 
> Okay another question for readers:  
> • In regards to Kili/Tauriel, because he isn’t the one who is poisoned, I feel like loads of their moments together will be missed out. Can you guys think of any ways to get around this issue? Don’t worry if not :)


	18. Laketown

(Seph’s POV)

The boat swerved slightly as Bard manoeuvred us through the water. 

“What are you trying to do, drown us?” Thorin asked angrily.

“I was born and bred in these waters master dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here,” Bard said casually. 

“He’s right you know. He would’ve drowned us further out in the lake, where the current would take our bodies away from the town,” I murmured. My eyes were still closed, right hand still trailing in the water. I had wrapped my coat firmly around myself from the cold air. 

“I’ve had enough of this lake bloke. I say we throw him over the side and be done with it,” Dwalin muttered.

“Bard. His names Bard,” Bilbo said.

“How do you know?” Bofur asked.

“Uhh Seph and I asked him,” Bilbo replied. I tried not to smile at that.

“I don’t care what he calls himself, I still don’t like him,” Dwalin said.

“You don’t have to like him, we simply have to pay him,” Balin said from where he sat. “Come on now lads, turn out your pockets.”

I could hear the clinking of coins. I opened my eyes and took out any coins I had in my pockets. I got up slowly and gave them to Balin before leaning against the barrels. 

“There seems to be a wee problem. We’re seven coins short,” Balin said.

“Gloin, come on, give us what you have.” Thorin said to the dwarf.

“Don’t look to me! I have been bled dry by this venture. And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery and grief and-“ Gloin stopped.

Over the course of his speech, the others had all stood up, gazing longingly at something. I turned, seeing the lonely mountain emerging through the mist and the fog. The dwarves were speechless as they stared. The sadness, yet hope reflected in their expressions put tears in my eyes. 

“Bless my beard. Take it, take all of it,” Gloin said as he tossed his coins onto the crate with the others.

Bilbo cleared his throat as Bard came over to us. 

“Quick, the money you owe me, give it to me now,” the man said urgently to Thorin.

“You’ll get paid when we have what you promised us,” Thorin replied darkly with crossed arms.

“If you want to live, you’ll do as I say,” Bard said. He had us hide in the barrels, staying low and quiet. The barge came alongside a pontoon. We waited in near silence as Bard moored and stepped off the boat. 

“What’s happening?” Someone hissed to Bilbo, who was peeking through a hole in his barrel.

“He’s talking to someone...now he’s pointing right at us!” Bilbo whispered back.

“What?!”

“Now they’re shaking hands!” Bilbo hissed to us.

“Has he sold us out?”

“The bastard!”

I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and stepping onto the deck of the barge. I tensed, and took my ballpoint pen in my left hand, ready to fight with by non-dominant hand if necessary. 

What happened next was not high on my bucket list. At all. My barrel, and all the others, were filled up with cold, dead, slimy fish. As a daughter of Poseidon, I took that personally. I fought the impulse to leap out of the barrel and jump into the lake to wash off the slime. 

I couldn’t hear much through the fish, but I could make out Bard speaking to another man. From the sound of it, we were almost past the entrance. That was until the voice of a slimy bastard sidled into the conversation. 

The new guy sounded like a stuck up, who sucked up to the person with the most power. I encountered too many people like him. Thankfully, Bard managed to persuade the nasty guy to leave and let us pass into the town. 

The minute that Bard gave the word it was safe, I burst out of the barrel, shuddering in disgust at the fish slime. We climbed out of the boat and onto the wooden pier behind some buildings. 

“Alright stay close, keep your heads down,” Bard said as he led us into the streets. 

“What is this place?” Blibo asked as he ogled at various things. (Nothing was particularly noteworthy to me though.)

“This, Master Baggins, is the world of men.” The disgust in Thorin’s voice was very obvious.

We wove through the buildings and townspeople, trying not to attract attention. Obviously it didn’t work, as a guard saw us. 

“Stop!” He yelled. “In the name of the master of Laketown, I order you to stop!” We didn’t listen, and ran through the alleyways. The guards ran after us.

One of them managed to corner us, so we backed up among the stalls and the people. The dwarves collectively knocked out the guards and hid behind crates and wooden columns holding up roofing. I hid among them, keeping an eye on the stall owners. 

Surprisingly, they didn’t rat us out to the next few guards who came along. 

Bard stepped out and began talking casually to the leader of the guards. One of the unconscious guards began to stir, but a woman shopkeeper dropped a pot onto his head. The others helped us to hide the guards, allowing us to remain unseen by the man who Bard spoke to. 

My shoulder was throbbing. I couldn’t focus on what the others were saying. I managed a nod in thanks to the stall owners as we moved on. 

We followed Bard through the maze of wooden buildings and bridges. He motioned for us to hide in the water. “My house is being watched, you’ll have to come in the back way. Get in quietly,” he murmured to us.

I slipped into the water without complaint. We swam under the wooden paths, following Bard to his house. As he went up the stairs and through the door, we quietly swam around the side of the building and pulled ourselves up onto a storage platform under the house. Then came the nasty bit. 

As instructed by Bard earlier, we endured the humiliation of climbing up through their toilet. 

Dwalin went first, hissing “if you speak of this to anyone, I’ll rip your arms off.” I assumed he was talking to either Bard or one of his kids.

“Da, why are there dwarves climbing out of our toilet?” Came a female voice.

“Will they bring us luck?” A younger girl asked. 

I climbed up after Bifur, trying my upmost to ignore the throbbing and aching of my shoulder. A young boy was inside helping us up. From the look on his face, I didn’t think that he expected to see a girl climb out after the dwarves. I shot him a smirk before following the others further into the house. 

We were all dripping wet, myself included to avoid suspicion. I would have dried everyone, but Bard was sceptical enough about us without adding my powers to the mix. 

Bard’s children gave us all blankets to warm us up. Thorin was looking out the window. 

“A Dwarvish Windlance,” he whispered softly.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Bilbo commented. 

“That’s because he has,” Balin said, coming up behind the pair. “The last time we saw a weapon like that, the city was on fire. It was the day the dragon came. The day Smaug destroyed Dale.” Those words sent shivers down my spine.

“Gilleon, the lord of the city, rallied his bowman to fire upon the beast. But a dragon’s hide is tough. Tougher than the strongest armour. Only a black arrow fired from a Windlance could have pierced the dragon’s hide, and few of those arrows were ever made. The store was running low when Gilleon made his last stand.” Balin relayed the tale gravely.

“Had the aim of men been true that day, much would have been different.” Thorin’s expression was unreadable in that moment. 

“You speak as if you were there,” Bard said, re-entering the room.

“All dwarves know the tale,” Thorin said quickly. 

I half zoned out at that point. I was aware of Bard’s son arguing something about a loose scale or something similar. My mind was drifting on other topics. 

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a large clattering noise. Bard had places a pile of ‘weapons’ on the table for the dwarves to use. They were somewhat less than impressed, sceptically picking some of them up.

“What’s this?” Thorin asked grumpily.

“Pike hook. Made from an old harpoon,” Bard said.

“And this?” Kili asked.

“A crowbill, we call it. Fashioned from a smithy’s hammer. It’s heavy in hand, I grant, but in defence of your life, these will serve you better that none.” Bard spoke relatively confidently, but the dwarves were not convinced. 

“We paid you for weapons: iron forged swords and axes!” Gloin said loudly.

The others began grumbling their displeasure, throwing the weapons back onto the table. 

“You won’t find better outside the city armoury. All iron forged weapons are held there under lock and key,” Bard argued.

“Thorin, why not take what’s on offer and leave. I’ve made do with worse, so have you.” Balin tried to talk some sense into Thorin. 

I noticed the recognition that crossed Bard’s face when he heard Thorin’s name. 

“I suggest we leave now,” Balin said, turning to all of us.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Bard said loudly. 

“Excuse me mister, but you’re in no position to dictate what we do.” I stood up and walked slowly over to Bard. Pain lanced through me with every jolt, and I felt a little dizzy. I managed to hide my discomfort pretty well though. 

“This house is under watch. There are guards everywhere, watching every dock and warf in the town. You must wait until nightfall,” he said firmly.

“Be that as it may, I have my ways of leaving this town unseen if necessary,” I glared up at him. 

Bard turned and walked out of the house. There was a thoughtful look on his face which didn’t fill me with hope. As soon as he left, I swayed and staggered back to a seat. 

“You alright there lassie? You’re looking awfully pale,” surprisingly it was Dwalin who asked. Make no mistake, I was friends with all of the company by now, but Dwalin never seemed the sympathetic type.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I muttered through gritted teeth. When they weren’t looking, I found the nearest cup of water as poured it over my wound, hoping to ease my symptoms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos greatly appreciated:)
> 
> I’m still taking ideas/suggestions, so let me know if there’s anything you want to see!


	19. Reasoning with Humans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the end notes:)

While Bard was out of the house, we began our plans. Most of the dwarves had their eyes on the armoury. Ever since Bard mentioned that Laketown had iron forged weapons, the determined look had reappeared in their eyes. 

The plan was to break in and take what we needed under the cover of night, which was soon approaching. We snuck out of Bard’s house a few at a time as the sun began to descend. Once we were all out, we quietly made our way through the shadows towards the centre of Laketown. 

Thorin had rightly suggested that only a few go inside, the others remain outside as lookouts and helpers. I was on the outside team, meant to help boost the others inside, and keep guard. Partly because I didn’t need a weapon. 

Bilbo, as the burglar of the quest, went first. We lined up outside the armoury window, acting as a ramp boost. Blibo ran at us before using us as stairs. We boosted him up to grab the window so he could climb up and inside. 

Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin and Dori followed suit, running and jumping with skill. The rest of us remained silent, waiting for the next phase of the plan. Now that those six were inside, they needed to collect as many weapons and bring them to the window, where we were waiting to pass them down. 

Regrettably, it didn’t quite work like that. All was going well until someone inside tripped. The resulting cacophony of clangs and bashes and metallic ringing was admittedly impressive, but bad news. The incredibly loud noise caught the attention of many guards and townsfolk alike. Before we had a chance to make a run for it, we had been surrounded. 

I thought about fighting our way out, but considering only Bilbo and I had weapons (other than the stolen ones that were being taken away already) and I could barely use my sword arm, I immediately discounted the idea. The guards dragged us towards the biggest building in the town. Almost the entire town had gathered by the time we got there. They looked angry and curious - rightly so. 

The doors to the building were thrown open and a middle aged fat man in fancy clothes walked out. By his side was a shorted man with stringy black hair and a manipulative sneer plastered across his face. 

“What is the meaning of this?” The fat dude asked impatiently.

“Caught ‘em stealing weapons sire,” one of the guards responded.

“Ah, enemies of the state eh?” The fat guy said.

“A desperate bunch of mercenaries if ever there was sire,” said the black haired dude. It was at this point I realised that was the same slimy bastard who tried to stop Bard at the entrance to Laketown. 

“Hold your tongue!” Dwalin said with ill-concealed outrage. “You do not know to whom you speak,” he spat that as the slimy guy as he stepped forwards. “This is no common criminal. This is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!”

Muttering could be heard from the residents of Laketown as they heard this. Thorin stepped forwards to Dwalin. 

“We are the dwarves of Erebor; and we have come to reclaim our homeland.” Thorin spoke with authority and exuded an air of confidence. “I remember this town in the great days of old. Fleets of boats lay at harbour, full of silks and fine gems. This was no forsaken town on a lake - this, was the centre of trade in the north!” 

The townspeople got louder at that as they discussed amongst themselves.

“I would see those days return. Relight the great forges of the dwarves, and send wealth and riches flowing once more from the halls of Erebor!” Thorin was getting progressively louder as he began to win over the town. The people began cheering in favour of his words. 

“Death!” Came a shout from the crowds. Bard came hurrying out and into the small clearing where we were. “That is what you will bring to us if you enter that mountain. Dragon fire and ruin. If you awaken that beast, it will destroy us all.” He ended in almost a whisper of desperation.

Thorin turned away. “You can listen to this naysayer, but I promise you this; if we succeed, all will share in the wealth of the mountain. You will have enough gold to rebuild Esgaroth ten times over!” 

The clamouring and cheering resumed from the crowds. I could see Balin nodding reassuringly at Thorin’s decision. I had to hand it to the dwarf: he knew how to give a good speech. 

Bard began to grow desperate. “All of you! Listen to me!” He managed to quieten the crowds. “Have you forgotten what happened to Dale? Have you forgotten those who died in the firestorm? And for what purpose? The blind ambition of a mountain king so riddled with greed, he could not see past his own desire!”

Some angry talking could be heard from the people.

“Now, now. We must not any of us be too quick to lay blame. Let us not forget that is was Gilleon Lord of Dale, who failed to kill the beast!” The master of the town exclaimed at Bard loudly. 

“It’s true sire - we all know the story,” said slimy bastard. “Arrow after arrow he shot. Each one missing its mark.”

I frowned at that. “Hey! There’s no point shaming people for their ancestors failings. They are different people, and should be judged by their own merits and failing.” I spoke loudly, fixing anyone who dared to look my way with harsh glares. 

Bard walked over to Thorin. “You have no right. No right to enter that mountain,” he said lowly.

“I have the only right,” Thorin responded evenly. He turned to face the master. “I speak to the muscle of the men of the lake. Will you see the prophecy for filled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people?”

I could see the greedy gears Turing in the master’s head. He wanted the gold, and to remain in the good books of the townsfolk. 

“What say you?” Thorin asked loudly.

“I say unto you... welcome! Welcome, king under the mountain!” The master exclaimed as the cheering began once more. 

~~~~~~~

That evening passed in celebration and alcohol. Once the master decided to ‘help’ us, a party was thrown in our honour. Tomorrow was the last day before Durin’s day, so we would be heading off first thing in the morning so as not to waste time. 

That didn’t stop the large amounts of drinking which went on. I knew that dwarves enjoyed food and drink, but I didn’t realise that they could party to this extent. I admired their optimism and joviality. Even I had a tankard of beer, in the hopes it might dull the searing pain in my shoulder. It failed to work, but a pleasant buzz filled my head over the course of the evening.

I could hear the drunken retelling of our journey so far from Gloin and Nori, with the others chipping in from across the room at times. I didn’t fail to notice Kili’s expression when the elves were mentioned. Especially the woodland elves. As I suspected, his flirting with Tauriel was more than just flirting. He had feelings for her definitely, despite their different races. I heard one of the drunken men discussing elf-maidens in a rather crude manner, and before I could put them in their place, Kili punched the man in the face. 

“Show some respect. They could easily tear you to pieces before you even had the chance to lift a finger,” Kili said angrily. I helped Fili to steer the dwarf away from the man and cool off. 

~~~~~~~

Many awoke with splitting headaches the next morning. It wasn’t surprising considering the amount of alcohol which was consumed in the hours before. 

The master of the town saw fit to outfit all company members with swords and helmets and capes. He even planned on sending us off personally. It was clear to all of us that he was only doing this for public appearances. 

My breathing was becoming more difficult as the minutes went by. My right arm hung uselessly by my side as I slowly followed the others towards the docks. The pain was only getting worse. It was a miracle I had been able to not cry out in pain so far.

Once we arrived, I pulled Thorin aside subtly. He cast me a confused glance. 

“I can’t go with you,” I said quietly. “That arrow was poisoned, and so far I haven’t been able to heal it. I can’t move my sword arm anymore, and the poison will only slow me down. I can’t be the reason that you miss the moment to find that door and re-enter Erebor.” I looked down at the wooden planks beneath our feet in shame. 

Thorin placed a gentle hand on my left shoulder. “Thank you for being honest. I’m sorry but I agree, I can’t risk the outcome of this quest for anything. Rejoin us when you’re healed, I fear a dragon is not the only obstacle we will face in the future.” 

“I swore to help. As soon as I’m able, I’ll help you all again, I promise.” I held out my left arm, he grabbed it in agreement with a sad smile. “Be careful my friend. The mountain will challenge you all,” I said quietly. 

With that, we turned back to the others. 

“Where’s Bofur? He’s gonna miss the boat,” said Bilbo.

“We can’t wait for him. We have until sundown to reach the mountain and find the door. There’s no time to waste,” Thorin said firmly. I saw Balin nod in agreement.

They got into the small wooden boat which was ready. I remained where I was on the wooden walkway. 

“Seph? What are you waiting for?” Fili asked, confused. 

I sighed heavily and looked at them all apologetically. “The arrow was poisoned, I’ll only slow you down. You don’t have much time - I can’t be the reason you all fail to get there in time. Promise me to be careful. All of you,” I said looking at each of them individually. 

“I’ll stay with the lass. My duty lies with the wounded,” Oin said as he stepped off the boat and stood next to me. 

At that moment, the brass band began to play a fanfare to send off the company. It was painful to listen to, as one of the players was _definitely_ out of tune. I smiled at my friends as they pushed the boat down the canal. The townspeople were cheering and waving to them as they went past. The master of the town was saying something overly fake, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. My vision was swimming again as I took deep breaths, trying not to focus on the pain coursing through me. 

I was vaguely aware of Bofur pushing his way through the crowds in an attempt to reach the boat. He saw that the boat was already out of reach, and I felt sorry for him. He noticed Oin and me and came over. 

“Did you two miss the boat as well?” He asked. Ever the optimist. 

In typical fashion, this was the moment that the pain started to be too much for even me. I prided myself in having great pain tolerance: my experiences with the chimera poison, the river Styx, holding the weight of the sky, all the curses from the Arai... I was no stranger to pain. But this poison sure was giving my pain tolerance a run for it’s money. 

I couldn’t quite make out what Oin and Bofur were saying, but they seemed worried. I was swaying violently and grimacing something awful as they both put their arms around my waist and half guided, half dragged me back through the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, comments and kudos appreciated! :)
> 
> Are there other character POVs you would be interested in reading?
> 
> Still open to suggestions about the battle of five armies and other story details :)


	20. Agony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy. Please read end notes :)

I was aware of Boruf and Oin desperately asking people for help, but being turned away. They tried for what felt like days, but was probably only hours, working their way through the houses. They went from the master who flapped a dismissive hand and shooed us away through to anyone who they could find. Most people seemed to think I had a contagious disease, so turned us away. 

As a last resort, they dragged me back to Bard’s house, knocking urgently. 

Bard opened the door, saw us and immediately said: “No.” He went to slam the door on us. 

“No please wait! No one will help us. Seph’s sick. She’s very sick,” Bofur said gravely. 

My eyes were only half open and I was breathing really heavily. Something close to sympathy lurked in Bard’s eyes. He sighed and opened the door properly. 

“Bring her inside,” he said, moving out the way. 

Oin and Bofur helped me stagger inside and over to a chair. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Bard asked as he closed the door. 

“Shot with arrow... poisoned... hurts like a bitch,” I huffed out between breaths.

Oin was immediately fussing over me, kinda reminding me of the Apollo kids at camp. “Lassie I need to get a look at it,” he said softly. 

“Can’t move... right arm,” I muttered. “Help... take coat off,” I said. 

Bofur immediately helped to ease my leather trench coat off, careful not to jostle my right arm. Oin cut through the right sleeve and the bandages, pulling back the fabric swiftly. I couldn’t see his expression, but the swearing wasn’t encouraging. 

I chuckled weakly. “That bad huh?”  
A strangled yelp escaped me as Oin gently prodded the wound. I squeezed my eyes closed and cursed in Ancient Greek expertly. Oin assessed the wound and the surrounding flesh, poking and prodding as necessary (much to my discomfort). Each touch felt like a red-hot iron stabbing me. 

He came around to look at my face, noticing the pale, clammy condition of my skin and glazed eyes. Oin touched the back of his hand to my forehead, frowning. 

“Someone fetch a cold cloth. She’s burning up with a fever, and I need to clean the wound properly,” Oin said. 

“Why won’t it heal with your powers?” He whispered to me.

“No clue...” I muttered through gritted teeth. “So, how’s it looking?” 

Oin sighed. “Not good lassie, I won’t lie.”

I hissed and cried out as a damp cloth was pressed tightly to the wound. Black spots danced violently across my vision and tears spilled from my eyes as I tried to curl away from it all. 

“Arghh please! It hurts!” I was almost writhing with agony. I screwed my eyes shut again and tried to pull away from the cloth, but Oin was persistent. 

Gods, what I would’ve given for ambrosia at that moment. 

The pain was making me dizzy and nauseous. I was aware of someone picking me up and placing me on a small bed, but I couldn’t tell who it was. My mind was somewhat preoccupied. 

I passed out at some point, but that provided no relief. My dreams were just as painful and haunting. 

I saw two huge orc armies marching on the lonely mountain from different directions. The pale orc was leading one out from some large tunnels. The other came charging from the depths of a dark mountain. 

The dream changed to Erebor. Huge hallways and tall staircases were in abundance inside. The dark stone was cold with abandonment. I could see forges to rival those of Hephaestus in size; carts and tools lay abandoned, as did the network of giant cogs and wheels making up the backbone of the forges. I saw piles of gold shifting and falling as a giant golden dragon began to stir from slumber. 

My eyes snapped open with a strangled cry. I felt like I was on fire as searing pain coursed through my body. I could barely control myself, writhing and jolting around with the pain as I cried out and screamed. 

I was aware of Bofur rolling me over so that Oin could apply medicine to the wound on the back of my shoulder.

“Can you not do something?” Bofur asked as I yelled in agony.

“I need herbs! Something to bring down her fever!” Oin cried.

I could hear Bard rattling through bottles, searching for herbs. “I’ve got nightshade, feverfew...” Bard said as he rifled through his stores.

“They’re no use to me, have you got any kingsfoil?” Oin asked loudly over my cries.

“Kingsfoil? No it’s a weed. We feed it to the pigs,” Bard said shaking his head.

“Pigs?” Bofur asked. “Weed... right! Don’t move,” he said to me before taking off out through the door.

“Where... am I... gonna go?” I gasped out. 

There was a rumble. I felt it through the water and the earth. It made the house shake and the lake ripple. It was coming from the mountain. 

“Da?” Sigrid said worriedly.

“It’s coming from the mountain,” Bard’s son Bain said. 

“You... should leave us...” I huffed out between breaths and cries to Bard. 

Oin saved my breath. “She’s right. Take your children and get out of here,” he said.

“And go where? There is nowhere to run,” Bard said softly. 

“Are we going to die Da?” Bard’s youngest daughter asked.

“No, darling,” he said.

“But the dragon; it’ll kill us.” Little Tilda whispered.

Bard pulled a huge metal forged arrow from a beam in the ceiling. “Not if I kill it first,”he said firmly. I had to hand it to him, he was brave.

Bard fetched his coat and kissed his children goodbye, telling them to stay safe. He wished me well too, telling me to beat the poison. Bard marched out the door, black arrow in hand and a determined air about him as he went to speak to the master about the dragon.

Oin continued to mix medicines and press a wet cloth to my wound and forehead. I felt bad for him having to deal with my violent flinching and screaming. I was not trying to be dramatic, but it was excruciating by this point. 

I could hear scuffling on the roof above me. “Oin... kids... something... roof,” I tried to warn them, but it was hard to even form words. 

Bard’s eldest daughter Sigrid had gone outside, thinking it might be her father. “Da? Is that you?” She called.

Then all Hades was unleashed. 

An orc dropped from the roof beside her, snarling. She screamed and ran inside, trying to slam the door behind her. Unfortunately the orc was much stronger than her and burst the door open. More orcs came in behind the first, launching at anything that breathed. 

Sigrid tried to hit one but got headbutted and stumbled backwards into the table. 

Brave little Tilda was screaming at them, but also throwing plates in attempt to drive them away. My heart went out to her bravery. 

Bain pulled his sisters under the table. That was a good idea. They didn’t stand a chance, so hiding was a better bet. 

Oin threw pots and pans at the orcs with deadly accuracy as they burst down through the roof. He then flipped a table on top of another orc with a rage-filled yell. Unfortunately I knew that Oin couldn’t fight the orcs by flipping tables and throwing pots. He would soon run out of energy and resources. 

I sat up as best as I could and pulled Riptide out of my pocket with my left hand. Agony coursed through me and I screamed out. I uncapped the pen with my teeth and threw the glowing bronze blade to Oin so that he could fight them off and defend the kids. I could barely move, so a sword would have done nothing for me at that moment. 

More orcs were appearing and I desperately threw out my left hand. I focused deeply on all of my pain and rage. All my built up frustration and anger. I hated to do this, but it was the only was I could help defend the others in my condition. I controlled the blood in the orcs and froze them in place. I could see my necklace glowing painfully brightly.

My arm was trembling and I was still writhing in agony. “Oin! Cant... hold them... for long...” I croaked out. 

He seemed suitably shocked, but seemed to get the message, cutting down the orcs with my sword while they couldn’t move. Unfortunately, it didn’t make my job easier, as more orcs appeared to replace the fallen. 

Just as my control was wavering and falling away, an orc in the doorway was impaled with a dagger. The orc fell, revealing Tauriel. She immediately leapt into action, stabbing and slicing the orcs which I had lost my control over. 

Legolas dropped down from the broken roof, landing on a broken table. He too began killing the orcs swiftly. 

I was practically gasping for breath by this point. My arm dropped heavily as my powers fizzled out. Any frozen orcs snarled back to life with renewed vengeance, heading straight for me. I managed to roll out of the reach of one, falling to the floor with a pained yell. Another moved in and grabbed me by the neck, lifting me clean off the ground and starting to choke me. 

Legolas beheaded the orcs going for me and stabbed the one strangling me. I tried to land on my feet as I was dropped, but I was too weak from the poison and crumpled to the floorboards pathetically. I couldn’t stop the convulsions as the poison took advantage of my further weakened state.

I could hear Tauriel had finished off the other orcs, and Oin was immediately rushing over to me. What surprised was Legolas. The elf had sheathed his blades and was trying to help Oin. Legolas knelt down and pulled me upwards so I was half leaning against him.

“What’s wrong with her?” He asked, concern lacing his words as he looked at me. 

“She was shot by a black arrow back at the river. Nothing is working. I fear she can’t hold on much longer.” Oin spoke softly and quickly, trying to replace the cloth on my shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut, baring my teeth at the pain.

I could feel more shakes and rumbles coming from the mountain. That wasn’t a good sign. 

Legolas had his eyes fixed on my necklace from Ulmo. It was glowing with a beautiful bright blue light, almost pulsating with desperation. 

**_”Save her! My champion is vital to future events, she must survive!”_ **

My eyes snapped open and my head shot back. “Ulmo,” I whispered before my eyes fluttered shut again. 

~~~~~~~

(Legolas’ POV)

The voice boomed throughout the building. It seemed that Tauriel and I weren’t the only ones to hear it this time. The children looked around confused as did the grey haired dwarf. 

Seph’s eyes flew open. Sea green orbs almost glowing. She whispered “Ulmo,” but her eyes went glassy and fluttered shut. Her head lolled and fell against my shoulder.

“Seph!” Oin exclaimed, trying to wake her up and help. 

I looked at Tauriel in shock. _”Did she say who I think she said?”_ I whispered quietly.

Tauriel said nothing, only nodding in shock. 

A dwarf burst through the doorway holding Athelas in his hands. He saw the dead orcs but zeroed in on the girl on the floor. “Oin I’ve got the Kingsfoil! Please tell me it’s not too late!” He came scrambling over to us, holding out the plant with trembling hands.

I looked to Tauriel. _”Please, you have to save her! I’m not a healer, but you are. The life of a champion of the Valar is in your hands my friend,”_ I said softly but firmly. 

Tauriel took the Athelas from the dwarf’s hands and stood up. “Put her on the table,” she said.

I scooped Seph into my arms and easily carried her over to the table. I lay her down gently and rolled her onto her stomach so the wound was easily accessible to Tauriel. I don’t know what came over me, but I stroked her hair gently, trying to soothe her as she convulsed.

“What are you doing?” The younger dwarf asked sceptically.

“I’m going to save her,” Tauriel said reassuringly.

The began the healing chant, pressing the Athelas herb firmly to the exposed arrow wound. The screams that came from Seph were heartbreaking. She was writhing in agony with surprising strength despite how sick she was.

“Hold her down!” I yelled to the others, who immediately obliged, pinning her arms and legs to the table desperately. I kept stroking her hair, but I also held down her back with my free arm. I was murmuring reassurances in her ear, hoping to ease her distress. 

Tauriel’s healing chant was working. Seph’s cries began to diminish. Her struggling became weaker and her breathing started to even out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)
> 
> Accepting suggestions and prompts for future chapter content - if you have any requests/ideas please let me know in the comments!


	21. Healing

(Seph’s POV)

Through the level of agony the poison was causing, my mind seemed to distance itself from the pain my body was experiencing. It was strange honestly. I knew that my body was convulsing as the Kingsfoil was pressed to my shoulder. I could hear the hunting screams coming from me, but it was like hearing them from a different room.

I was distantly aware of Tauriel chanting in Sindarian and doing her healing magicky thing. Someone was whispering to me and stroking my hair soothingly. Other people were holding me down through my struggling. Thankfully the elf-magic was working. The pain slowly dissipated and a soothing warmth came over me. I could feel the poison disappearing from my bloodstream and the wound start to close properly. It made me feel kinda fuzzy though.

Once Tauriel was finished, I was exhausted. I felt the people let go of me. I sluggishly rolled over in the table and stared at the wooden beams above me. I let myself relax finally. My breathing was more even than it had been for days.

I turned my head slightly to where Tauriel was standing. “Thank you,” I croaked out. My throat was hoarse from all the screaming. She smiled with surprising gentleness in response.

“Many things I’ve heard of the wonders of elven healing, but that was truly a privilege to witness,” Oin said in awe.

“Ugh that was not fun,” I muttered. The words were slow to form, but I got there in the end. “I think I preferred jumping in the Styx. Gods, never thought I’d hear myself say that.” I slowly managed to pull myself into a sitting position, arching my spine and slowly stretching out the tension.

“You really shouldn’t be getting up so soon,” Legolas said from beside me. 

“You sound worried Blondie,” I murmured with a smile. “I feel I should be honoured,” I said jokingly as I turned slowly to face him. 

His facial expression was hilarious to witness, but surprisingly he didn’t make a snarky retort. 

I swung my legs over the side of the table and stood on shaky legs. Legolas immediately steadied me carefully. He looked me in the eyes. “You’re stubborn, but I was being serious. You need to rest Seph. The Morgul poison almost killed you.”

I held his gaze firmly. “But thanks to Tauriel’s elf magic, the poison is gone and I’m all good. Not dead, see!” I tried to grin confidently. I was lying through my teeth. Obviously I was tired, but I remembered the rumblings from the mountain. Smaug was awake and I needed to help my friends.

“Is everyone okay after the orcs?” I asked, trying to change the subject before I was forced into bed rest by Legolas, Tauriel or Oin. Gods, was this how Nico felt when Will fussed over him? I had seen the way they interacted briefly before the battle of camp Half-blood.

“No one was badly hurt, but the kids are still a little shaken by everything,” Oin said. 

I felt my expression falter slightly as I looked away. “Sorry if I scared anyone,” I said quietly. 

Bofur was the only one out of the loop. “How could you scare us? You’re not a scary person... What did I miss?” He asked innocently.

I sighed and sat on the table, swinging my legs slightly. “I... when the orcs arrived, I could barely move. There was no chance that I could fight them off with my sword... so I did something as a last resort. Ugh Hades why is this so hard to talk about? I- I swear I would never do this unless it was the only option... I controlled the orc’s blood, holding them in place so they couldn’t hurt anyone. Obviously I couldn’t keep it up for very long, so thank the gods that you two turned up when you did...” I kept my eyes on the floor, not wanting to see anyone’s expression. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way... but what are you?” My head snapped up towards the voice. Tauriel didn’t look judgmentally towards me, but confused and curious.

“I assume you’re referring to why I have powers? Well to put it simply, I’m a demigod; half human, half god. I’m not from Arda, before you ask why you haven’t heard of us or our gods. Where I come from, my father is Poseidon, god of the Seas - hence my powers over water. When I came to this land, Ulmo of the Valar claimed me as his champion. He’s the one who spoke to you earlier.” 

I turned to Oin. “Can you get me some water?” I asked nicely.

He nodded and immediately fetched a cup for me. I accepted it gratefully, drinking carefully. The water was soothing and cold. I could feel the tingling as my throat healed and the bruises from the orcs disappeared. 

“Thanks,” I said with a smile to Oin. 

“How did you do that?” Tauriel asked shocked.

“Do what?” I asked, sipping on me water.

“The bruises on your neck just vanished,” Legolas said in surprise. 

“Water heals me. Well, with the obvious exception of the Morgul poison. I learnt that the hard way,” I said with a smile. 

“It’s a good thing these elves turned up when they did lassie. No offence but I don’t think you would have lasted any longer with the poison,” Oin said gently to me.

I took no offence from the dwarf. He was right, the poison had almost finished me off. Although I liked to think that I gave it a good fight. “That reminds me, why are you two here anyway? It is because we broke out of the dungeons? Please tell me you didn’t save my life only to drag me back to elven jail.” I asked turning to the two elves.

“We were hunting the orc pack which followed you and your company from the river,” Tauriel said. I could see the other reason lurking behind her eyes, but didn’t want to make a scene. I could tell that she wanted to see Kili again. Gods, Aphrodite would be having a field day with these two!

“They’re under orders from Azog the defiler. He’s been hunting Thorin and therefore the rest of the company ever since the start of the journey. I had a dream earlier on - demigod dreams are nasty but prophetic just so you know. I saw that he has two armies marching on the mountain as we speak. One is the main force, but the second will approach from the opposite side, in the hopes of catching them off guard.” I described everything I saw in my dreams in as much detail as I could. Obviously now that the dwarves had reached the mountain, if they manage to kill the dragon, many would seek to take the mountain for themselves.

Worried expressions overtook everyone in the room, but none so much as Legolas. Something sparked in his eyes as I described details about the second army that I saw. I was about to ask what he knew, but we were all interrupted. 

An ear splitting bang and crash could be heard from the lonely mountain. I rushed to the window, making out the hulking shape of a huge dragon against night sky. 

I swore expertly in Ancient Greek _and_ English. The Fates were practically cackling in my eardrums.

The beast was flying towards us with speed. I could hear the giant wings flapping powerfully and echoing through the skies. I didn’t have time to waste on worrying about my friends in Erebor, the dragon had set its sights on Laketown with a vengeance. Hundreds would die if I did nothing.

“Everyone needs to leave right now!” I yelled as I rushed past everyone in the room, running outside. 

“DRAGON!” I screamed so that the houses around could hear me. “EVERYONE GET INTO A BOAT AND LEAVE NOW!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos greatly appreciated:)
> 
> This chapter is a little shorter, sorry. I might take a break for a couple of days - I haven’t really planned any of the next chapters, so I haven’t got much to use rn.


	22. Smaug the Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry it’s been a few weeks since the last chapter, I said a few days break and here we are...
> 
> Anyway! Here’s the next update, let me know what you think in the comments.

I grabbed my coat and turned to the people in Bard’s house. “All of you get to a boat now! Take nothing but yourselves - items are replaceable, you are not.” I ushered the children out the door quickly, assuming that the elves and dwarves had enough common sense to follow me. 

Smaug flew low over the town before doing a 180. I saw the orange glow forming in his chest and mouth before the jets of flames burst out from between his gaping jaws. The fire immediately took hold of the wooden houses. 

I made sure that Bard’s kids were safely in a boat before jumping into the water so I had more energy. 

I threw my hands out. Huge waves easily 30 feet tall formed and swept across the buildings, quenching as many flames as possible. I made sure that the townsfolk weren’t injured by the waves though. 

“Get out of here!” I shouted to Legolas, Tauriel, Oin and Bofur. 

“Seph we can’t leave you here!” Bofur shouted over the sounds of the dragon roaring. I saw the concerned looks mirrored in both Bofur and Legolas’ eyes.

“Just go! I’ll be fine!” I yelled before flicking my wrist at their boat, sending them on their way out of Laketown quickly.

As then dragon continued to set the town ablaze, I continued to put out as many fires as I could. Obviously I couldn’t manage to get them all, but it was enough to save a great many of the people from burning alive. Water was flowing and flying through the air, quenching the flames almost as fast as they caught on.

Smaug noticed my attempts, snarling angrily. I noticed arrows being fired towards the dragon. I turned, searching for the attacker, seeing Bard. He was at the top of the bell tower, shooting hunting arrows at Smaug. 

I used the water to lift me up to him. “Bard! Those arrows won’t scratch a monster that size!” I yelled over the noise. “Where’s the black arrow?”

“It was taken by the guards!” He shouted back to me as Smaug flew over again. I immediately threw more waves over the new fire, trying my upmost not to destroy anything.

I saw Bard’s confusion at my water powers. “Not now! I’ll explain later!” I yelled. “Find the arrow, I’ll keep the lizard busy!”

I drew Riptide and twirled it in a glowing circle, jumping onto a nearby rooftop. “Oi! Giant golden lizard!” I shouted as loudly as I could. Obviously tact was my strong suit (not). 

Smaug evidently had good hearing too. He landed heavily on some of the buildings, turning his glowing eyes on me. My tactic was to distract and annoy the dragon until Bard found that arrow.

“Any particular reason you’ve decided to try and set the town on fire?” I yelled as I put out more of the flames.

“You dare speak to me, pathetic girl?” Smaug’s voice thundered through the air as his eyes narrowed on me. Huge teeth could be seen from behind his curling lips, smoke was also streaming from his nostrils. 

I smirked. This was going to be fun - antagonising enemies was a special talent of mine. I had had plenty of practice over the years. 

“What, I need permission to talk to an overgrown lizard?” I scoffed and walked casually along the rooftops, acting unbothered. 

I could feel the rage emanating from Smaug. His eyes narrowed dangerously and he bared his teeth properly in a snarl. “Who are you? What makes you think you have the right to challenge me?” Smaug growled out and he moved along the houses, trying to intimidate me.

I smirked again and stood tall, aware of both Smaug’s and Bard’s gaze on me. “My name is Persephone Jackson, the only daughter of Poseidon, god of the seas. Twice-saviour of Olympus. Bane of Gaia and Kronos. I have slayed monsters and creatures the likes of which none in this land could possibly imagine! I’ve sacrificed and lost more than you could ever understand, I’ve endured horrors which none here could possibly comprehend! I stand between you and your desolation unafraid.” 

With each sentence I took another step forward, building the waves up around us with my free hand. I could faintly hear Bard speaking softly to his son, who had found the arrow. I didn’t dare turn; Smaug had his attention on me, so I would distract him for as long as possible. My voice was steady and loud, but there was a razor sharp edge glimmering beneath the surface - I meant business.

“I’ve walked through the very pits of hell facing the worst nightmares imaginable! I’ve held the very weight of the sky upon my shoulders and stared Death in the face! I have led my kind into battle many times when the prospect of survival has been but a child’s wishful dream! By all rights I should be dead a hundred times over, yet here I am: a champion of Ulmo of the Valar in this land.” 

My voice was echoing loudly and I thought I could see something change in Smaug’s eyes. The arrogance had begun to diminish as I listed some of claims, and had Smaug been smaller in size, I expect that he would have been backing off by now. Obviously he saw his size as the ultimate advantage, and though shaken by my words Smaug was still cocky. 

In the reflection of my sword, I could see Bard carefully aiming for Smaug with the black arrow. I knew that as fun as charging at the dragon with Riptide would be, that arrow was our best shot. 

“So many would love to be the one who strikes me down for good. Are you the one to finally claim the title? Or will you end up the same as all the previous attempts?” I arched an eyebrow and held my chin high as the rage returned to Smaug’s expression. I had successfully insulted and pissed him off!

“I could squash you beneath my talon before that pathetic sword of yours could twitch in my direction,” he snarled and began crawling towards me slowly and menacingly.

I suppressed a laugh, unaffected by the dragon. “Oh I’m sure,” I said with sarcasm dripping from my words. “Regrettably for you big guy, I’m actually not the one you should be worrying about.” Smaug had no time to properly register my words.

Bard released the black arrow with impeccable timing. It flew perfectly, embedding itself through the missing scale gap in Smaug’s chest. The dragon immediately reeled backwards in shock and pain, wheezing. He tried to fly upwards and away, attempting to douse us in flames, but I commanded the water to surround Smaug, trapping and drowning the dragon mercilessly. I bared my teeth with the strain as he tried to flap and squirm. I could feel the water sizzling against his scales and filling up his nostrils and throat. It was like Akhlys all over again, and I hated it. But a small slither of my soul was enjoying it too, and I was disgusted by that. Annabeth wasn’t here to reign me in. 

The minute that Smaug stilled I threw the huge dead body with the water as far away from the town as I could, making sure that the resulting waves didn’t flatten the buildings. I released my control of the water, breathing heavily. I was still exhausted from my experience with the Morgul poison, even though Tauriel had healed me. 

I shakily made my way over the rooftops to Bard and his son. “Nice shot,” I called out. “Now I suggest you two get a move on to shore so that your girls know you’re both alright.” 

“B-but how did-“ I cut the man off with a hand. 

“Another time. I’m too exhausted to explain coherently right now,” I said quietly. 

Bard looked like he wanted to protest, but reconsidered after seeing the look in my eyes. The pair began climbing their way down the bell tower and searching for a boat to take them to the others. 

I jumped off the roof and into the cold water below. I breathed the water deeply and closed my eyes for a moment before resurfacing and climbing into Bard’s small boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl I hated writing this chapter, I just couldn’t get into it. 
> 
> During Seph’s speech moment, ik some of you might wonder why I didn’t mention more of her achievements. The simple reason being that none of the people in middle earth would understand. (Ik she mentioned Olympus, Gaia and Kronos) So if she started on about various enemies and places etc, they wouldn’t hold any meaning to people in this world.
> 
> As much as I would have loved for Seph to take down Smaug, I knew that this moment was pivotal for Bard. Don’t worry though, she will have her chance to be a badass in future chapters!
> 
> Updates from now on probably won’t be daily like they were before, but definitely once a week if i manage to plan the rest of the story properly. 
> 
> Comments/kudos/reviews are all greatly appreciated to me!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading so far!


End file.
